


Nothing but the Truth

by Ahmose007, sushifish



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: 79's (Star Wars), Ahsoka Tano Needs a Hug, Angst, Awkward Boners, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives is a Good Bro, CT-7567 | Rex Needs a Hug, CT-7567 | Rex is a Good Bro, Captain Rex can't catch a break, Captain Rex deserves good things, Caught, Cunnilingus, Declarations Of Love, Dirty Talk, Exhibitionism, F/M, Fives is a Little Shit, In Public, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Jealous CT-7567 | Rex, Kissing, Masturbation, Miscommunication, Oral Sex, POV Ahsoka Tano, POV CT-7567 | Rex, Pining, Pining CT-7567 | Rex, Protective CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives, Rexsoka Week, Rexsoka Week 2020, Self-Loathing, Simultaneous Orgasm, Truth or Dare, Vaginal Sex, Voyeurism, a little bit of military kink, caught masturbating, finally a happily ever after oh my god, honestly just so much angst we're so sorry, rexsoka, the great outdoors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:42:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 42,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29523816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ahmose007/pseuds/Ahmose007, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sushifish/pseuds/sushifish
Summary: Rex looks at Ahsoka like she held the galaxy in her hands. Ahsoka looks at Rex like he hung each planet there one by one. Fives just wants them to kriffing kiss already.In which a game of truth or dare, some well-intentioned but meddling clones, and a little bit of liquid courage combine to create the perfect storm.
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 174
Kudos: 228





	1. If You Dare

**Author's Note:**

> Ahmose007 & sushifish regretfully report that we do not, in fact, own Star Wars :(

**_Ahsoka’s POV_ **

The light from Ahsoka’s data pad cast a pale blue glow over her face. She’d lost track of how long she’d been staring at the screen but was certain she was rounding out the better part of a few hours by now. At any rate, it had been long enough for all of the words to start running together into one big nonsensical mess. 

Anakin had given her file upon file of past mission reports to read as a sort of case study assignment while he was away assisting Senator Amidala, though Ahsoka was pretty sure it had actually been Obi-Wan’s suggestion and Anakin just went along with it because, well, he was Anakin. “Work smarter, not harder” was her Master’s unofficial motto - somewhere between “what Obi-Wan doesn’t know won’t hurt him” and “act first, ask questions later” - and accepting Obi-Wan’s bookwork suggestions as opposed to coming up with his own certainly qualified. Frankly, she still didn’t see why she couldn’t just accompany Anakin to Naboo. But Anakin was insistent that she use this time to broaden her creative thinking, so he’d tasked her with reviewing these old mission reports and listing her suggestions on how the outcome could have been improved. Or, in Anakin’s terms, “write down everything they did wrong and tell me how you would’ve done it better.”

With Anakin gone and Barriss away on a mission with her own Master, Ahsoka’s room at the Jedi Temple felt oddly lonely. It wasn’t often she spent much time in her own room anymore and she’d long ago realized that her quarters on the _Resolute_ felt more like home to her than anywhere else. The Temple was always so solemn and Ahsoka found herself missing the sounds of the ship and the company of the 501st. It had even grown harder for her to sleep without Jesse’s snoring filtering through the paper thin walls.

Maybe, she thought, it wasn’t so much the _Resolute_ that felt like home as it was the people on board.

Which was exactly why she’d ended up here, in the bunkhouse’s common room. When the silence of the Temple had grown too much for her, Ahsoka decided on a change of scenery and made her way over to the sparse building that held the clone troopers’ quarters. She’d been expecting a fairly packed house when she arrived but instead found the building virtually empty save for Rex, who had opted out of tonight’s rendezvous at 79’s to work on _paperwork._

Ahsoka’s lip quirked upward at the notion. Classic Captain.

Admittedly, it would have been a lie if Ahsoka said she wasn’t the tiniest bit thrilled to spend some time alone with Rex. She had lost track of how long it had been since she first realized that brushing past him in the hallway sent a shiver up her spine that would never have happened with Kix, Dogma or any of the other troopers. It had been a gradual thing, her admiration of him as a captain slowly ebbing and flowing into appreciation of him as a person before crashing full force into appreciation of him as a _man_. Not that it mattered, she reminded herself with just a touch of un-Jedilike bitterness. She was all but certain Rex’s perception of her didn’t even come close to toeing past the line of friendship. Her stoic, rule-abiding Captain would never dare fraternize with his Commander, not even if he was so in love he could hardly see straight.

Ahsoka’s breath hitched just so inside her chest. _Her_ Captain.

Besides, Ahsoka couldn’t help but notice that Rex had been distancing himself from her as of late. Where he used to sidle up next to her in the mess hall and shove her over good-naturedly with his shoulder, now they almost always had another body between them. Ahsoka felt like she had been fairly adept at keeping her feelings safe behind the walls of her mind; she hoped she hadn’t slipped up and let them show.

And so this was the scene they painted for the past Maker-knew-how-many hours: Ahsoka on the couch in the common area with her data pad and Rex stationed at one of the tables behind her, a series of reports spread in front of him. They spent their time in a comfortable silence for the most part, punctuated on occasion by a series of beeps or clicks from Ahsoka’s data pad or Rex mumbling about the absurdity of a particularly detailed incident report he now had to write involving Hardcase, Echo and a distinctly human-shaped dent in the bunkhouse door.

Every now and then Ahsoka would try to get Rex’s attention, usually with a dramatic sigh of boredom or by taking up a particularly interesting position on the couch. Any attempts to distract him - or, more accurately, to try and tempt _him_ to distract _her_ from her work - were fruitless, so Ahsoka had given up. Resigned, she’d flung herself backward over the edge of the couch with an exaggerated _‘oomph!’_ and gone back to picking apart her series of boring reports. She could have sworn she heard Rex chuckle at that though and it sparked the tiniest bit of satisfaction inside of her. She may not have been able to persuade the Captain to help her blow off her assignments but at least she could entertain him with her efforts.

The reverberating _bang_ of metal against metal shook Ahsoka from her thoughts and, mercifully, provided just the distraction she was seeking. There was no need to bother reaching out through the Force; a series of voices and the sound of heavy footsteps growing closer told her all she needed to know about who had just entered the bunkhouse.

As if on cue, what seemed like the entire remainder of Torrent Company came barreling into the common area like a rampaging pack of rancors. They all seemed to be in various states of disarray and Ahsoka had the very clear impression that they all had an _excellent_ time at 79’s. A chorus of “Hey, Commander!” and “Fancy seeing you here!” greeted her and a wide grin split her face as she responded to each of them in kind.

“The Captain keeping you company, Commander?” Jesse asked, flinging himself across an armchair. “He’s loads of fun, if you haven’t noticed.”

“The hard-assed leader bit is all an elaborate ruse,” Kix agreed as he pulled a chair over to her and sat on it backward, chin resting on his folded arms.

Ahsoka peered over the top of her data pad, lifting up so she could see Rex over the back of the couch. He didn’t bother looking up from his work, though she didn’t miss the slight upturn in the corner of his mouth.

“I’ll be sure to take your comments into account when it’s time for evals, Troopers.”

Ahsoka grinned and moved to respond but an exuberant, “Commander!” cut her off. Before she could register where it came from, Fives had flung himself over the back of the couch face first, landing beside her in a tangled mess of limbs. Ahsoka turned to face him and found a broad grin plastered on his face. He was close enough that she could smell the hint of alcohol lingering on his breath and she was certain there was a faint smear of bright pink lipstick at the corner of his mouth. She couldn’t help but laugh.

“Commander,” he repeated, a bit calmer this time. “Thank the Maker you’re here. Entertain us!”

Ahsoka scoffed. “Entertain _you?_ I came here hoping you guys would entertain _me._ I’ve been trying to persuade Rex to put down those reports and pay attention to me for what feels like a full rotation."

“Is _that_ why you sat perched on the arm of the couch for an hour like a porg?” Rex glanced up and arched an eyebrow. “I thought it was a Jedi thing.”

“Oh yeah Rexster, the Jedi Code decrees that all Jedi must do their bookwork in increasingly awkward positions for the duration of the task. It challenges the mind and encourages focus in the midst of a distracting environment.”

“Wait,” Tup blinked, wide-eyed from his seat opposite Fives. He looked back and forth between her and Rex. “Really?”

Echo snorted and launched a pillow at his brother, hitting him square on the side of the head. “No, you raging di’kut. She’s being sarcastic."

Tup opened his mouth to respond but Rex cut across him, his voice stern in the way it always was whenever he needed to reign in the troops. “Regardless, the Commander is too busy to entertain you. General Skywalker has an assignment for her while he’s on Naboo.”

Ahsoka frowned and rolled her eyes. “ _The Commander_ can speak for herself, thank you very much. And I’ve been looking at these reports for so long, I can hardly see straight. It’s not like Anakin expected me to get it all done in one night.”

Rex mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, “ _Should we comm him and find out?_ ” which Ahsoka made a point of ignoring. Instead, she turned her attention back to the rest of the men.

“Besides, I think I have just the thing to keep us all entertained.”

A sea of golden eyes fixed on her with interest. Most would have been inclined to call them identical but to Ahsoka, they were anything but. Dogma’s, she knew, were flecked with shades of brown if you looked closely enough. Rex’s darkened to nearly bronze when he was angry. Fives’ seemed to perpetually shine with an undercurrent of mirth, no matter the situation. These were the things Ahsoka loved most about her troopers - her _friends_ : all the little things that made them unique in spite of being genetically identical. A smile played on her lips as she tossed her data pad on the table and flipped herself upright into a seated position.

“Yep, it’s a game some of the other Padawans taught me: Truth or Dare.”

The men listened with rapt attention as Ahsoka recounted the fairly simple rules to them. Admittedly, she had only ever actually played the game once, when Barriss had encouraged her to hang out with some of the other Padawans. She had enjoyed the little pocket of silliness inside the otherwise stuffy Jedi Temple, though she’d made a thinly veiled excuse and a hasty exit after someone dared Barriss to kiss one of her fellow Padawans. Ahsoka had no desire to let any of them put their lips on her. Given who was part of her present company, however…

She gave her head a nearly imperceptible shake to rid herself of the thought. There was no point in even considering it; obviously none of them would dare her to do _that._

But hey, a girl could dream.

“Oh, I’ve got this,” Tup declared with a smirk. He pointed a finger at Echo. “Truth or dare?”

Echo scoffed. “Dare, obviously.”

“I dare you to send a message to Commander Wolffe and ask him what the ladies think of his howl.”

A wave of laughter crashed through the room. Ahsoka raised a hand to her mouth to stifle her giggle. Behind her, even Rex sniggered. Echo blinked at Tup for a moment before rising wordlessly and striding from the room. Ahsoka wondered if the sound of their laughter followed him all the way to the end of the hallway where his bunk was housed. A few of the clones leaned over to clap Tup on the back, congratulating their brother on his excellent choice of dare. Ahsoka hoped Wolffe would see the humor in it, too. Echo came back a few minutes later and dropped his data pad into Tup’s lap, proof that the dare was completed.

“Fives-“

“Dare!” Fives cut across him, puffing out his chest just a tad to show he was ready for whatever his brother chose to throw at him.

The corner of Echo’s mouth quirked upward. “I dare you to tell us when exactly you decided to start wearing lipstick.”

Ahsoka bit her lip to keep from smirking at the confusion that flashed across Fives’ face. Realization dawned on him and he wiped the back of his hand over his mouth, blinking at the faint pink smear on his skin.

“Pink really is your color, vod,” Jesse commented, much to the other boys’ amusement.

Fives’ mouth curled into a wicked grin. “Yeah, you should see where else that lipstick ended u-“

“Fives!” Rex’s voice cut through the room with the same ferocity as if he’d fired one of his DC-17s. “Not in front of the Commander.”

Ahsoka felt warmth bloom in her cheeks nearly instantaneously. Ahsoka wasn’t ignorant of the things that went on when the boys drank away their evenings at 79’s. What frustrated her further was that she knew for a fact Rex had no problem letting the troopers divulge their _activities_ to Anakin, so obviously the fact that she was their Commander wasn’t the issue. No, clearly it was just the fact that she was _her._ She knew Rex would never see her as more than his Commander and friend, but to know that he apparently saw her as a _child_ … well, that was entirely too much for her. Ahsoka was a Jedi Padawan. She was a Commander in the Grand Army of the Republic. And she was a woman, for kriff’s sake.

“Sorry, Commander,” Fives had the good sense to look mildly repentant for the briefest moment before that familiar mischievous glint shone in his eye again. “I spent my evening in riveting conversation with a very lovely Twi’Lek girl and I walked her home for no other reason than to ensure her safety, as any respectable clone would do.”

Around her, the boys nearly doubled over in laughter. Ahsoka rolled her eyes.

“Rein it in, Fives. Despite what Captain Rex seems to think-“ she paused to shoot him a withering glare, “-I’m not some naïve _child_.”

She made a point of emphasizing the final word and felt a sharp stab of guilt reach her through the Force, gone just as quickly as it came. She chanced another glance at Rex but found him engrossed in his paperwork again. When she dared to try reaching out to him through the Force, she felt nothing but the cold solidity of his mental walls.

“Right you are, Commander,” Fives agreed before turning toward the back of the couch. He propped his chin in his hand and fixed his eyes on Rex. “Captain, tru-“

“No.” Rex didn’t even bother to look up.

“Aw come on, Captain! Where’s your sense of humor, huh?”

“Maybe he’s scared,” Jesse offered with a knowing smirk.

Rex’s hand stilled from where he’d been writing. Slowly he turned to look at Jesse, fixing him with a glare that could have stopped an entire assembly of battle droids in their tracks. “Fine,” he ground out. “Truth.”

“Definitely scared,” Kix whispered to Echo, who nodded in agreement. Ahsoka chuckled behind her hand. Fives ignored them, opting instead to stroke his chin in mock-thought.

“Alright, Captain,” he said finally, doing absolutely nothing to try and hide the amusement in his tone. “What is your favorite thing about our dear Commander here?”

Ahsoka’s montrals perked in anticipation. Rex’s eyes shot to her reflexively and she found herself frozen in his gaze as though she were a ship caught in a tractor beam. She felt small and exposed with his eyes on her, though there was no denying the effect it had on her ever-quickening heartbeat. He tipped his head slightly to the side, as he often did when he was deep in thought. Ahsoka wondered if it really was that difficult for him to come up with an answer. She longed to reach for him in the Force but couldn’t bring herself to actually do it, nervous at what she might feel there. After what felt like entirely too long, Rex looked away. When he spoke, Ahsoka noticed that his words had lost their edge.

“She goes out of her way to get to know us - all of us. And she makes m- uh, makes _us_ feel like… like people. Not clones.”

There was a brief silence that fell over them, heavy with the weight of what Rex said before murmurs of agreement broke out around her. Ahsoka wasn’t sure what she had been expecting but that wasn’t it. Her heart soared at the fact that her efforts mattered, that she had succeeded in letting Rex know in some small way how special she thought he was. To her, every single man in the 501st - in the entire GAR, as a matter of fact - _was_ a person, not a clone. They were all individuals, unique in ways beyond just what they had been created to do. She was relieved to know that her men could tell how much she appreciated them for exactly who they were.

“An excellent answer, Captain,” Fives nodded thoughtfully. “And one with which I think we’d all agree. But you didn’t let me finish.”

Ahsoka’s stomach seemed to drop to her feet and jump into her throat all at the same time. She should have known Fives wouldn’t be able to pass up even the smallest opportunity to give his Captain a hard time.

Rex cast him a sideways glare. “Pretty sure that’s against the rules, brother.”

Fives dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand. “What is your favorite thing about the Commander _physically_?”

If Ahsoka’s sienna skin could have turned Coruscant Guard red, she was positive it would have done so in that moment. Her eyes grew impossibly wide in surprise and she found herself unable to look anywhere except at the bantha shit-eating grin on Fives’ face. She could practically feel Rex’s fist clenching and unclenching at his side, could all but hear his teeth grinding together. Her own body seemed to be reacting of its own accord too. She could feel her pulse pounding out a bass beat against the side of her throat, so loud in her own ears that she wondered if everyone else could hear it too. Something deep in her core tightened in a way she couldn’t describe - nervousness, maybe? But that didn’t seem right. It almost felt like… excitement?

She had little time to ponder it, however; Rex cleared his throat and yanked her from her thoughts. When she dared to peek at him from her peripheral vision, she could have sworn she saw the faintest tinge of pink on his cheeks.

“Everything,” was his simple reply, voice surprisingly even despite his obvious discomfort. “I think we can all agree the Commander is-“ he paused for a moment and awkwardly cleared his throat again. “-aesthetically pleasing.”

Ahsoka turned to face him fully but could do little more than blink owlishly at him. It took every ounce of willpower she possessed to ensure her mouth wasn’t hanging open comically. Rex met her eyes for hardly a second and Ahsoka felt something warm and unfamiliar radiate from his Force signature. But just like his gaze, it was gone before she could even really process it. He turned his attention back to the task before him and made a dismissive motion with his hand, effectively cutting off Fives who had opened his mouth to comment.

“Give my turn to Ahsoka.”

She blinked again, caught between wanting to pick apart every possible implication of his words and trying to keep her expression impassive so the men wouldn’t pick up on her thoughts. When no one objected to her taking over for Rex, she turned back to face them with a smile, chose Kix, and dared him to show them all the last thing he’d searched on the holonet - which, much to everyone’s disappointment, ended up being nothing more than a particularly delicious-sounding recipe for iced sweetbread. And so the game continued, truths and dares being called out around her while Ahsoka was barely able to tempt herself to listen. Her mind was still stuck on the man behind her, his single spoken word echoing in her mind.

_Everything._

Had she been alone, Ahsoka was certain she would have squealed in delight. She had been complimented on her physical appearance before, sure. Besides, she was no stranger to the way her people were so often sexualized and she’d been subjected to a lewd comment or two in some of the seedier places she and Anakin had been forced to venture. But something in Rex’s words was different. There was a sincerity there that she had never felt before, an undercurrent of almost… longing?

Had she been mistaken? Could it be possible that Rex _did_ actually reciprocate her feelings? Had he, like her, been trying to suppress them all this time?

Ahsoka’s head swam at the prospect. She had to know. The need was very nearly a visceral ache, something deep in her bones that she knew wouldn’t go away until she had some sort of clear answer. She needed something - _anything_ \- to steer her in the right direction and, hopefully, to assure her that she wasn’t the only one feeling this way.

When Ahsoka found herself on the receiving end of Tup’s truth or dare - to which she chose truth and was rewarded with, “How many cloaks does General Kenobi _actually_ own?” - she saw her opportunity and decided to seize it. Mustering every bit of confidence she possibly could, she climbed over the back of the couch and crossed to the table against the wall, dropping into the seat across from Rex with a self-satisfied grin. He stilled instantly and met her gaze reluctantly, golden eyes locking onto her wide blue ones but remaining utterly unreadable. She propped her elbow on the table top and rested her chin in her palm, hoping against hope that she was exuding more confidence than she actually had.

“Alright, _Captain._ Truth or dare?"

* * *

**_Rex’s POV_ **

He didn’t want to look up and meet her eyes. This game was... _dangerous_. Really karking dangerous and he was more afraid to play this childish game than he would have been to face an entire battalion of commando droids by himself without his armor...and maybe without his weapons too. But he was not one to retreat from a challenge. And that’s what this was right now. A challenge. All the men and now Ahsoka too, determined to provoke a response from him. 

He took a deep breath and hauled his eyes up to meet hers. Her look was...intense. Like she was striving to reach into his soul and pull something out. He reinforced his mental walls - the last thing he needed right now was a gap in his armor. He wouldn’t back down, but he’d need to be really kriffing careful here. _Really kriffing careful_.

He’d been avoiding her lately and this was the closest she’d been to him in...too long. Recently, he’d started thinking about her in ways that were not strictly Captain and Commander. Ways that were...really unprofessional and really, _really_ inappropriate. He’d needed to keep his distance from her until he could find a way to rein himself in, a way to keep his eyes from straying to her curves, a way to keep his thoughts from drifting to those plush lips, those large eyes…

Those large eyes that were focused intently on him right now, waiting for his answer. Well, he was not going to back down. He could do this...just really fucking carefully.

“Truth.” _That should be safe_. After all, this was Ahsoka. Innocent, sweet and rule-abiding (most of the time) Ahsoka. There was a distinct twinkle in her eye that positively scared him. 

She had opened her mouth to pose her question, but whatever she was going to say was drowned out in a cacophony of groans, huffs and various other noises of indignation from his fellow troopers. Fives led the assault, “Aw _come on_ Rex! Loosen up!” He taunted, “I know _you_ aren’t afraid to try a dare like the rest of us?”

“Yeah Rex, come on!” Encouraged Echo, “It’s really fun.”

Jesse joined in, “Rex, look at her, she’s not gonna bite ya,” Rex kept his narrowed eyes trained on Jesse, “Are you Commander?” He teased.

“Who, me?” Ahsoka raised her arm melodramatically, placing her hand on her chest in a gesture of mock shock and hurt. Her eyes were alight with mirth, dancing with laughter but he could still make out that devious twinkle sparkling just inside her irises. “I would _never_.”

All of his brothers were cackling at his expense now, most of them either doubled over or flung back against their chairs gripping their sides. _Yeah this was just kriffing hilarious_. They had no idea how perilous this could be to start with him right now. He’d been so adept at stifling his feelings for Ahsoka, _reckless and improper feelings_ he reminded himself, he didn’t want to break down everything he’d accomplished all at once during this stupid game. _This stupid dangerous game_.

He was frowning now, he could feel it. His teeth grinding just a bit in annoyance as they all tried to back him into a corner. That damn challenge again. He couldn’t capitulate and he refused to show weakness. He exhaled in a huff. “Fine. Dare.”

“Attaboy Captain!” Cheered Tup.

“Get ‘im good Commander, this might be the only time he lets you!” urged Fives still clutching his side and wiping a tear from his eye. If looks could kill, Rex was sure they’d be burying Fives tonight. But Fives was not deterred in the least. In fact, if anything, Rex’s obvious discomfort in this situation seemed to revitalize his efforts, “ _What?_ Oh, come on, you know It’s true. You need to cut loose once in awhile.” He winked at Ahsoka conspiratorially, “Get ‘im good.”

Ahsoka giggled and all the boys were now all on the edges of their seats. Watching, waiting, to see what she’d make him do. He was sweating, ill at ease with this whole kriffing thing, and he vehemently hoped none of that was showing in his posture or expression. She caught his gaze and locked onto it. His stomach did an uncomfortable summersalt. 

“Take your armor off, Captain.”

He wasn’t expecting that. His stomach flipped again and when it returned, it seemed to be filled with a large helping of durasteel. _Take his armor off..._ He’d expected something like maybe prank calling Anakin or possibly deleting all the ladies’ phone numbers Fives had accumulated over the years. But this...this was all kinds of...precarious. Thinking about Ahsoka seeing him in just his blacks was doing very incriminating things to his body and the _last thing_ he needed to be doing right now was taking his armor off.

They were all watching him. Kix’s mouth was hanging open, like a complete di’kut, Jesse looked as though he’d been slapped in the face and was stunned and blinking rapidly, Tup’s eyebrows were in danger of disappearing into that damned bun on his head, Echo’s eyes were the size of droid poppers, but Fives...Fives’ reaction got him the most. He gave a sly, self-satisfied smile that slowly crept across his face, ear to ear, until it was so wide that his cheeks must hurt. “Oh, that’s good,” Fives smirked chuckling, “Oh that’s _really good_.” Rex shot daggers at him before controlling his face once more, attempting to paint the indifference back on his features. But he still hadn’t made any effort to comply with her dare.

“It’s no use, Commander,” blinked Kix who seemed to have finally picked his mouth up from the floor, “He pretty much sleeps in that armor. You’ll have to pry it off of him.”

The thought of Ahsoka helping him take off his armor was too much and he could feel himself spring almost fully to attention. The worst karking possible time for this.

“I swear he does sleep in his armor sometimes,” mused Tup in mock thoughtfulness.

“He said dare and she gave him one. He needs to _satisfy the rules_ and complete the dare,” said Echo, a small smile infusing his lips.

 _Satisfy_. _Of course he would say “satisfy” right now_. They had to be fucking doing this to him on purpose.

As if picking up some unspoken que to make him as uncomfortable as possible, Jesse chimed in, “Yeah! You heard our _lovely, aesthetically pleasing_ Commander, Captain. Strip.”

_Yeah, they were doing this on purpose._

“Maybe he _does_ want the Commander’s help with this. Ahsoka, what do you think? Care to, uh... _encourage_ him...to follow the rules?” 

_Damn you Fives, I will remember this, I swear…_

He was watching Fives, his eyes boring into his brother’s fiercely, willing him to understand the potential consequences of this whole blasted thing and to just _shut up already_ when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Ahsoka’s.

He froze.

Every sound, sight, taste, smell and touch, _all of it_ , every particle of energy, shrunk and condensed around him, until it felt like a black hole, sucking in everything within its orbit and leaving nothing but her hand on his shoulder. She boldly rounded the table to stand beside him and he was too entranced with her hand on his shoulder at this moment to say anything to dissuade her. _Snap!_ She boldly unclasped his pauldron and lifted it over his head.

He should stop her there.

She popped off his right shoulder piece and removed it.

He _knew_ he should stop her there.

His left shoulder piece was next, followed in short order by the vembraces on both arms.

He _really knew_ he should stop her there. But Maker help him, he couldn’t move. 

His heart was going to pound its way out of his chest. He was sure she could feel its desperate beat as she unlocked his chest plate to gently remove it from his body and place it on the table. 

His lungs expanded and contracted in a shallow and uneven rhythm as she methodically removed the rest of the armor on his torso. She had to feel his shaky exhales gusting across her montrals as she worked.

His belt was next. She hooked her fingers into the grooves to pull it apart and he wildly gripped her wrists, keeping them forcefully still, his own hands lightly trembling. He swallowed deep, “Commander, I’ve got it from here.” Thank the Maker his voice had sounded more confident than he felt. She looked as though she’d just woken from a trance, blinking a few times at him with those long eyelashes of hers, and then withdrawing back to the relative safety of the other side of the table.

As she stepped back, all of the clamor and boisterousness around him came rushing back full force, as though someone had just cranked up the volume from zero to ten. As he took his time removing his belt and kama, he registered some of the men’s rowdy comments.

“...Never thought she’d do that!”

A smack on the arm, “Never thought he’d _let_ her!”

“Oh this just got _really_ good now!”

“Whose turn is it?”

_“Who cares?!”_

He tuned them out again, not needing to hear any more. This was plenty awkward without all of their crude commentary. He removed his codpiece half sitting in his chair and when it was off, which was both a relief and a problem all at once, he remained seated, safely hidden behind his desk as he removed the rest of his plates. They needed to get back on course and away from this potential minefield as swiftly as possible. He made a valiant attempt to rein everyone in, “Ok. Who’s next?” 

Jesse, who looked a little discomfited said, “That’d be Ahsoka.”

He could really get her back for this if he wanted to. She was looking at him again, that playful glint back in her eyes, her gaze practically _inviting_ him to do it. To take the bait. “Dare,” she provoked softly.

He thought about saying _get Fives to shut up_ but he knew that would probably only make things worse. He rubbed his chin with his right hand, thinking hard. All he could come up with were wonderful and terrible ideas. Dare her to take off her clothes, dare her to undress him the rest of the way. Dare her to clear everyone the fuck out of the room so he could show her how he really felt about her...

And all of that was so fucking _out of order_ …

Then he had an idea. _Oh the boys will really hate this,_ he thought. “I dare you to read this page of my report aloud to everyone here.”

It was comical how everyone’s face fell and he actually barked out a laugh at their astute disappointment. “Well, I gave you a dare Commander. I think you’ll need to read this to _satisfy_ the rules,” he glared at Echo while handing the longest and most tedious page he could reach to Ahsoka.

To his surprise, she smiled impishly at him, “Sure thing ,Captain.” She winked. “You just wait until your turn comes around again.” He had no idea what she had in mind, but his body was locked in hyperdrive right now, reacting to everything from her wink to her allusions of dares to come. 

She started reading and _thank the fucking Maker_ he was sitting down. He’d given her a page from Hardcase’s incident report, thinking that would be boring enough, but maybe funny for the guys to hear. Instead, the way she was reading it was about to make him come in his blacks, right here in front of everyone. She was speaking in a low and sultry voice, articulating every crude word or phrase which could be perceived as innuendo and drawing attention to it. All the men were hanging on her every word, like a report had never been so karking interesting. Well, honestly, a report probably _had_ never been this riveting. 

“... _hitting so hard,_ leaving a _deep_ dent in the wall…” 

“...might have been from all of the _roughhousing_ …”

“...need a _better way to relieve their adrenaline…”_

_Holy. Fucking. Gods._

He had never in his protracted life been so relieved to be done listening to a report. She smirked as she handed it back to him, “How was that ,Captain?”

His throat was so dry he couldn’t speak even if he had the right words, which he unquestionably did not. She put him out of his misery and moved on without an answer, “Alright Kix: truth or dare?”

And so they went, around and around, the dares becoming more and more immature, although some of the men had begun opting for truths. He found himself starting to enjoy the game as he watched Fives being dared to try a bite from a sandwich made in part by everyone in the room (he couldn’t vouch for what everyone else incorporated, but he’d personally picked the most foul smelling condiment available and applied it liberally). Fives’ face had been priceless. And maybe a little green.

He’d made it a couple of rounds now dodging dares and replying to relatively anti-climactic truths, hopeful the game would end soon and he could get back to his report. That report he didn’t want to think about right now because it was all he could do to keep from hearing Ahsoka’s husky voice as she’d read it earlier.

His quiet reverie was broken as he heard Fives call out Ahsoka, something in his tone urging him to pay close attention, “Truth or Dare Ahsoka?” That smile of his was just too kriffing wicked to mean _anything_ good.

“Hm...Give me another dare, trooper.” 

His smile grew, cunning and mischievous, “I dare you,” he paused for emphasis, “to kiss Rex.”

Everyone went still and he watched Kix’s mouth fall open again helplessly. Rex himself stopped breathing. He couldn’t ask that, could he? He wasn’t allowed to, right? And she wouldn’t do it anyway…

_Would she?_

His stomach was squirming uncomfortably, his breathing so shallow and rapid he thought he might pass out. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, just sat, rooted to that safe spot in his chair wondering what she’d do. 

He should stop this. 

But then she was walking towards him, like in a dream, _like in his dreams_ , eyes fixed on his, committed in her movements. She licked her lips, whether in nervousness or anticipation he couldn’t tell and he found that it didn’t really matter right now anyway.

She made her way around the desk. She gripped the back of his chair and spun him slowly out to face her. He hoped she didn’t see his blush. He hoped she didn’t see his now very prominent erection straining against his blacks. He hoped she didn’t see how much he wanted this.

She leaned down, eyes searching his for permission, which he wanted equally to grant and deny. This was so wrong. So, so, very wrong. But he wanted it _so badly_. In the end she either found what she was searching for or she made the decision for him as she delicately tilted her head, bent her graceful neck and pressed her lips to his.

He was still frozen, paralyzed as all of his senses went haywire, trying to find a way to ground himself against the onslaught. Her lips felt like everything he’d imagined them to be, full, soft and just the tiniest bit moist. Neither was moving, the kiss a mere touching of lips, each other’s breath ghosting across their closed mouths. He wanted so badly to slip his tongue out. To _really_ taste her, but he didn’t dare. 

Was that all this was?

_A dare?_

The kiss, in reality, probably only lasted just a short moment. Maybe just a peck on the lips, casual, like you might greet a family member or close friend you hadn’t seen in a long time. But it felt like ages. Like eternity. And when she’d pulled away he felt desolate. His eyes were still closed, those perfect lips now long gone, when he heard the catcall from Jesse and fists connecting with shoulders as the other clones enjoyed the moment for him. He didn’t feel like pumping his fist or celebrating. He felt...confused and guilty. He’d wanted to kiss her for so long now, but sharing that intimacy in front of everyone, and on a dare, wasn’t right. 

_What was he thinking? This whole thing wasn’t right._ He wasn’t allowed to have feelings for her. Definitely wasn’t allowed to _kiss her_. He would sort it all out later. Right now, he needed to get out of this situation before they dared him to bend her over his desk…

Well, that thought wasn’t going to fucking help at all, especially when he needed to stand up to make his way to the door. And he definitely wasn’t thinking about whether she’d _allow_ that or not…

 _Not, not, NOT thinking about it_.

He gave himself a moment to try and calm his body down and he only marginally succeeded. It would have to do. He could see Echo eyeballing him, lining him up for another truth or dare, he could karking _feel_ it.

He cleared his throat, “It’s late. I’m going to call it a night.” He made his way past them all as quickly as he dared without seeming anxious (or so he fervently hoped) and once he’d won the hallway he finally released his exhale. He could hear the laughter still spilling out of the doorway, everyone having a good time. But he knew he was in trouble now. His brothers could read him like a book. They knew how he felt now and probably so did Ahsoka. 

_What had he just gotten himself into?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This is our first collaboration work and we are so excited to hear what you all think!


	2. A Helping Hand

**_Rex’s POV_ **

He was breathing hard and ragged, sweating profusely, like he’d just spent an hour sparring with General Grievous in full kit in the Tatooine desert. That’s _exactly_ what he felt like right now. He needed some air, some space to think. Now. The exuberant laughter from the common area of the bunkhouse faded away with each long stride he took towards the barracks door. He smacked the release button on the panel assertively with his palm, barely hearing the door hiss and whoosh open for him as he rushed into the courtyard. 

Although it was undoubtedly very late, a few of his brothers were milling around the entrance, talking animatedly, not yet ready to relinquish their precious time off and give in to the demands of sleep. A few waved to him, a few others looked confused, and a couple snickered. 

_Ah fuck_. 

He was still in his kriffing blacks! In his haste to disentangle himself from the mess that was Truth or Dare and escape the room, he’d failed to bring his armor with him. No wonder he was getting so many funny looks. Between his attire, his heavy breathing and sweating, and his still visible halfie, he couldn’t blame any of them for the stares he was getting right now. He didn’t even want to _imagine_ what they might be thinking right now about how he might have gotten himself into this state. 

He’d deal with that later. Right now he needed air. And peace and quiet to deal with the jumble of nebulous thoughts crowding his head. He needed to _really_ think about this...about what he’d done and how to fix it. He rounded the corner of the building, back thumping heavily against the cold durasteel wall, cutting himself off visually and audibly from everything going on around him. He gulped fresh air into his lungs and admonished himself to breathe normally. 

_Calm down, Trooper_. One deep breath.

Another.

And another.

His lungs now saturated, at least enough to think straight, he allowed his mind to reconstruct tonight’s activities. He’d been doing paperwork, nice, distracting, perfectly appropriate paperwork, when Ahsoka had come in to do work of her own. Only that wasn’t quite right...she...what had she said?

She’d said she’d been trying to persuade him to put away his reports and pay attention to her. He’d been striving, _unsuccessfully_ , to do just the opposite: to ignore her as politely as possible. He hadn’t really succeeded. Although she hadn’t noticed, _thank the Maker_ , he’d written down the exact same sentence three times in a row because he was unable to focus with her in the room. Especially when she was flopping around on the couch like some strange, gangly fish. But he’d pretended to be absorbed in his paperwork, like he knew he should, and that had been the end of that.

Until his brothers had returned from 79’s, a little tipsy and itching to keep their good time rolling. Ahsoka had suggested Truth or Dare. He hadn’t wanted to play. They’d cornered him with their taunts and he’d reluctantly given in and it was all downhill from there…

She’d dared him to take off his armor. He’d dared her to read his boring report.

And she’d read that boring report, in a way that he was now scolding himself sternly for reminiscing on. Boring was the last thing she’d made it. _Haar’chak!_

His halfie wasn’t a halfie anymore.

The boys had loved that. He’d loved it too. _Way too karking much_.

Then Fives... _fucking Fives_...had dared her to kiss him. _And she had_. And that kiss… It was...it was…

Nothing. 

It _had_ to be nothing. It was _wrong_. Wrong of Fives to ask that of Ahsoka. Wrong of Rex not to reciprocate. _No, that wasn’t right_. Wrong of him to accept the dare, to let her lips brush his and so, so wrong for that kiss to make him feel things he had _no fucking right_ to feel. 

Especially not for her.

Even if he had the right to feel this...this...twisting in his gut like an aiwha swooping repeatedly after a fish, this pulsing need spiraling through his veins like liquid fire to settle at the very tip of him, she deserved better than a clone. Better than him. His hands had balled into fists, his short nails leaving small crescent shaped marks in his palms. 

But his brain persisted. _But that kiss had been_... _Gods, it had been…_

 _Nothing,_ he reprimanded himself. _Fucking nothing_. It wasn’t allowed to be... _something_. Not to him. Not with her. And not as some karking dare from Fives.

 _What if Fives hadn’t dared her though?_ He couldn’t help wondering. What if...

She’d said she wanted him to distract her before. She’d had that sparkle in her eyes, that whisper of...of that _something_ he wasn’t allowed to feel. She could have said no to Fives, asked for another dare. Could have kissed his cheek instead. Could have done _anything in the galaxy_ that she’d wanted to with it. But she hadn’t. She’d walked towards him, captured his eyes and held them in hers, searching for something. 

_Had he given it to her?_

Then she’d swayed towards him..wait.... _had he moved towards her too_? All of a sudden he wasn’t sure. Wasn’t sure at all. 

Her lips had touched his own, so soft, delicate, _intoxicating_. _Had he kissed her back?_ Fuck, he didn’t know. He just didn’t know anymore. He had been _so sure_ he hadn’t when he’d come out here, but now… Those lips...those perfect lips of hers...when they’d touched his own dry, cracked, _unworthy_ ones... _had he kissed her back?_

His neglected erection bobbed in impatience against his thigh, precum dribbling fearlessly out and creating a small wet patch at the front of his bodyglove. He was anxious over what had just happened, he was, r _eally fucking anxious actually._ But that somehow didn’t detract from that fact that it was also the hottest thing that had ever kriffing happened to him in his life and his body was belligerently refusing to let him forget it. 

He looked around his immediate space and re-confirmed that he was very alone. He took several more steps along the path of the barracks, so that he was much farther back now and partially blanketed in darkness from the shadow of the wall. He let out a deep, tortured sigh of resignation and surrendered to his needs, his hand snaking around to his front and releasing his thick and twitching length into the welcoming heat of his palm. 

It felt so good to give in to his desires, even if only in his fantasies. As his hand squeezed lightly and assumed a leisurely pace, he permitted his mind to dwell on the image of Ahsoka’s body. He authorized his brain to bring forward memories of tonight and then transform them...meld them into what he so badly wished they could have been. He empowered himself to envision what it might have been like to return that kiss. 

Not to return it like he wasn’t sure if he had actually done or not during the game, but as _he really fucking wanted to_. Tongue so kriffing deep in her mouth and dancing with hers, making her sigh, making her moan, _making her his_.

He was moaning now, so engrossed in his explicit reverie he neither knew nor cared what was emanating from his lips and springing off his tongue. So enthralled by his pleasure that he didn’t hear the small, hesitant footsteps as they approached him.

* * *

**_Ahsoka’s POV_ **

Ahsoka’s cheeks flushed with warmth as she took her seat back on the couch. After Rex made his exit, she was greeted with a round of applause and a series of exuberant congratulations on her job well done. It was as though she’d just led them to the successful completion of a mission, she noted with a strange twinge of bitterness. As though she hadn’t had her lips pressed against Rex’s only moments before. Even now, she could still feel the slightest pressure against her mouth, the ghost of his kiss, as if his own was still there. Her fingers itched to touch her lips, yearning for some sort of confirmation that what just happened _had_ actually just happened. She resisted.

The energy in the room tapered off quickly after that. Another question or two was thrown out before the boys all seemed to agree that they weren’t going to be able to top her and Rex’s display and opted instead to move on to other endeavors. For her part, Ahsoka snatched her data pad back up under the guise of returning to her mission reports, though she wasn’t sure she could have persuaded herself to focus on them even if she had the full power of the Force on her side.

Unsurprisingly, her mind was fixed instead on replaying the night’s events like a holovid. Ahsoka had gone to the bunkhouse that night - had even suggested the game of truth or dare - with purely innocent intentions. Really, she had. Had it not been for Fives and his subtlety that could be rivaled only by a rancor in a glassware shop, things never would have ended up the way they did. She could feel her breath quicken at the memory.

_Everything._

Ahsoka’s lips curled upward ever so slightly at that. Chancing a glance around her, she was relieved to see that Fives had crossed to the other side of the room to start a game of sabacc with Jesse and Tup. Echo and Kix were both engrossed in their own data pads. No one seemed to be paying her any mind, thank the Maker, so there was little danger of anyone noticing the subtle change in her demeanor. Safe inside the confines of her own mind, Ahsoka let the memories unroll before her.

 _…Hitting so_ hard _…_

 _…_ Deep _dent in the wall…_

Something inside of Ahsoka’s core tightened and she fought the urge to squirm in her seat. When had she become so bold? She had no clue what had come over her and possessed her to turn Rex’s bland, boring incident report into a piece of erotica but a distinct sense of pride swelled in her chest at the memory. Rex’s eyes had grown impossibly wide, a sight that would have been nearly comical if she wasn’t fighting every predatory instinct in her body that told her to climb him like a tree and have her way with him right there in the common room.

A fresh heat bloomed under her skin at the prospect. The men - the very same ones she worked with day in and day out - had looked at her with the same sort of reverence as if she’d stepped straight out of a holoerotica and into their bunkhouse. They had watched her, had hung on her every word like she was the lifeline keeping them from being dragged into unforgiving waters.

Ahsoka had been hit on before, had been propositioned even. But she had never felt so… so _desired._

And yet she was only realizing the extent of it _now_ , after the fact. In the moment, there wasn’t a single person who existed for her in the entire galaxy other than Rex.

His wide eyes had been locked onto hers like a ship’s tractor beam from the moment she sauntered over to that table. She’d never felt so exposed in her entire life as she did under his gaze, though somehow she’d also never felt more confident. Rex looked at her like she was the single most beautiful creature who’d ever crossed his path. And she hadn’t missed the way his body responded, either. Even now she could practically feel the ghost of his breath over her montrals, could almost see the rapid rising and falling of his chest. Kriff, she could only imagine how he’d strained against his blacks, how close her hand had been if he’d just let her help with that _karking_ cod piece-

Ahsoka pressed her lips together hard to keep an illicit sound from spilling out. There was an ache between her thighs and she squeezed her legs together as tightly as she could to try and ease it. It was no use. She needed air and she needed it _now._

No one seemed to pay her any mind as she rose to her feet as calmly as she could manage, sending a silent plea out to the Force for no one to question her exit. She turned toward the door and froze. Before her, at the table Rex had been sitting, lay his disassembled armor and the now-infamous incident report he’d been working on. Ahsoka crossed over to the table as nonchalantly as she could manage. She hesitated. Surely one of the men would bring it to him, she reasoned. Or, more likely, Rex himself would come back for it as soon as he realized he’d left it.

But maybe she should take it by his room, just in case.

As any friend would do. Obviously.

Ahsoka gathered up Rex’s armor and the discarded report as quietly as she could manage. Chancing a glance over her shoulder, she found the rest of the room still engrossed in their own activities, oblivious to the fact that she’d even gotten up. When she made it into the hallway, she released a breath she didn’t even realize she’d been holding.

Her heart pounded behind her sternum as she made her way down the long hall. It was a walk she’d taken countless times but something was decidedly different now. This time it felt… significant. Symbolic, almost. She couldn’t explain it.

It made no sense, really. She was returning his armor and the incident report, plain and simple. And yet, as she walked, the arousal that dampened her thighs reminded her otherwise. Ahsoka’s mind ran wild at the thought of him opening up the door and finding her there. She imagined him inviting her in as he always did, but this time there would be something heavy and charged between them. It played out in her head like a holonovella: Rex, admitting to her how he’d kept his feelings under lock and key this entire time. Her, confessing how much she longed for him. And then he would pull her to him, strong arms wrapped around her waist as he bent down to press his lips to hers-

Ahsoka froze as though held by the Force. They _had_ kissed, she reminded herself. Or at least, she had kissed him.

Rex had not kissed her back.

A series of hairpin fractures broke out over the surface of her heart. She didn’t dare move, standing statue-still in front of Rex’s door. She was worried that if she moved, if she so much as breathed in a bit too deeply, her heart would drop to the floor and shatter into a million pieces.

_Rex had not kissed her back._

Rex didn’t want her.

The words sliced through her the way her ‘sabers cut through battle droids. She had been _so sure_ , so absolutely positive that he’d wanted her to kiss him in that moment. And still, she’d been so careful. It was a featherlight brush of her lips against his, enough to give him the option to deepen it or pull away. She’d given him a way out if he wanted it.

Apparently he did.

Ahsoka eyed the comm button beside Rex’s door and swallowed hard. She would have given anything to be able to drop her arms and let the armor go clattering to the floor so she could turn tail and run from the barracks as quickly as her legs would let her. But she couldn’t, she knew. Ahsoka was a soon-to-be Jedi Knight. She was Anakin Skywalker’s apprentice. She was Commander of the 501st division of the GAR. And she wasn’t afraid of anything.

Except this.

Sucking in a deep breath and calling on every bit of strength she could muster, Ahsoka reached forward and pressed the button. And then she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

A frown tugged her lips downward. She pressed again and still, there was no answer. Hesitantly, she closed her eyes and reached out with the Force. The inside of Rex’s room was as still and silent as the meditation chambers at the Jedi Temple. Ahsoka’s brow markings knit together in confusion. Rex wasn’t there.

She tapped the entry code out on the panel and blinked as the door slid open with a soft _whoosh_ before she stepped inside. The Captain’s quarters were, in fact, empty. Even the ‘fresher door was wide open, signaling that Rex was absolutely not inside. Ahsoka set the report down on Rex’s desk in a neat pile next to his blaster cleaning kit before crossing to the small wardrobe and stacking his armor inside - a perfect, tidy little stack right in the corner, just as regulation decreed. She let her fingers linger just a heartbeat longer against the chest piece before taking a step back and crossing her arms.

_Where was he?_

Ahsoka paused for a moment before plopping down onto the floor in the center of Rex’s room. She sat cross-legged and closed her eyes, reaching out with the Force. Her mind swept through the hallway, down to the left of Rex’s room that led to the shared ‘fresher and the rest of the barracks. Nothing. She doubled back and opted for the other way, down past the mess hall and the common area she’d just left. She could feel Fives’ frustration at his losing sabacc hand, Tup’s smug satisfaction at having been the one to beat him, even Kix’s mild irritation as his data pad froze - but still no Rex.

She frowned again. Determined, she decided to widen her search area. Moving in the Force made her feel like nothing more than a soft breeze. She swept through the dented bunkhouse door like a ghost, past the handful of troopers milling about on the steps outside, and then she froze. Though she couldn’t see him, the Force painted her a very clear picture as though he was right in front of her. The walls Rex had erected in his mind at Anakin’s instruction were meant to keep any probing Force-users out. Whereas Ahsoka could sometimes catch a glimpse or two of what he was thinking or feeling - or even more on occasion when the Captain was in a particularly good mood, a little inebriated or just comfortable enough to let her in - now she was hit with what felt like the full force of his mind.

A thousand things seemed to swirl together all at once, like paint droplets mixing together to create something new and beautiful. The thing that hit her first - and that hit her the hardest - was, surprisingly, _her._ She could almost see herself in Rex’s mind, a fuzzy image that she somehow knew mirrored the one inside her own head. She could feel her own lips against his, the rush of adrenaline coursing through her veins as if it were _her_ body producing it. An undercurrent of nervousness and something akin to - was it guilt? - tugged at her senses but she - or Rex, maybe; she could hardly tell anymore - shrugged it off. She felt herself ready and willing. The thick, heady feel of lust was nearly overpowering. She felt desire - hot, raging, unforgiving desire - and realized after a breath that it was _his_ desire for _her._ She’d been wrong; Rex wanted her.

 _Force,_ Rex wanted _her._

Ahsoka’s eyes snapped open and she very nearly gasped. Inexperienced though she may have been, she knew _exactly_ what her Captain was doing at that very moment.

A devilish smile curled her lips upward.

With a confidence she’d thought long gone, Ahsoka rose to her feet and made her way back out into the hallway. A wave of her hand closed Rex’s door behind her and she strode purposefully to the bunkhouse door, warmth coursing through her veins and an incessant throbbing between her legs.

_Rex wanted her._

She made a valiant effort to rein herself in as she passed the few men she knew would be lingering by the front steps. They exchanged polite greetings but seemed not to pay her any particular attention as she breezed by. She rounded the corner with her heart in her hand and very nearly dropped it when she came face-to-face with Rex’s back. He was several meters in front of her, well out of both sight and earshot of anyone at the front of the building. Ahsoka slowed her steps as she approached, careful not to make herself known until she was absolutely ready.

His Force signature pulsed around her, an all-encompassing cloak that covered her in a way she never wanted to let go of. She could see the dips and swells of the muscles in his back from where his blacks clung to him, skin-tight. She longed to trace her hands over every peak and valley, to write her name on his skin with the pads of her fingers. She watched the movement of his arm and traced the line of it down from his shoulder to where it disappeared in front of him. Buried, she knew, down the front of his blacks. Fisting around himself with a mind full of thoughts of _her_.

Her hand twitched desperately toward her own arousal, which was rapidly seeping through her leggings beneath the skirt of her battle dress. The feral beast that was her heart roared wildly from inside the cage of her chest. She steeled herself against her own desires and willed her voice to be as even and sultry as she possibly could.

“Need a hand, Captain?”

Rex froze. Ahsoka felt his mental walls snap to attention so sharply that it almost made her gasp aloud. The warmth that had enveloped her was ripped away in half a second and it left her feeling cold, though no less determined.

She watched as his posture stiffened. He extracted his hand slowly and she didn’t need a connection through the Force to tell her that he was trying to do so as discreetly as he possibly could, though they _both_ knew he was caught. He cleared his throat and turned to face her, hands resting at his front in a way that covered what they both already knew was there.

“Commander,” Rex began. His voice was thick and strained, his cheeks flushed a violent red that would have been comical under different circumstances. Ahsoka had never seen him look so utterly debauched before and she _relished_ it. “I-“

“I went to your room” she cut him off, aiming for as casual an air as she could manage. She took a few steps closer, arms crossed over her chest. Rex seemed rooted to the spot, unable to move. “You left your armor in the common room, so I thought I’d bring it back. You weren’t there, obviously, so I went looking for you.”

“Commander,” he tried again, with no more success than the first time. “I’m so- Uh, that is, I was-“

“I reached for you in the Force,” she elaborated, taking another few steps until they were nearly touching. Still, Rex didn’t move. “I know _exactly_ what you were doing. And do you want to know what I think?”

Rex blinked down at her, golden irises turned bronze with lust around pupils blown wide. He opened his mouth but seemed at a loss for words. Ahsoka placed a hand on his shoulder and rose up onto her tiptoes to press her lips against his ear.

“I think you need to kiss me the way we _both_ know you should have back in that common room.”

Ahsoka could feel Rex’s breath hitch in his throat. She gave him no time to respond and instead slid her hand from his shoulder to the back of his neck, pulling him down to her and pressing her lips against his. There were no featherlight brushes this time, no room for misinterpretation regarding each other’s intentions. Ahsoka _knew_ how Rex felt; she’d felt it herself in the Force, and it reflected everything she herself had been trying to smother for so long.

Rex was frozen beneath her but Ahsoka didn’t care. She wrapped her other arm around his neck and brought herself as close to him as she could, wordlessly urging him forward. A heartbeat later Rex’s hands came to close around her hips and Ahsoka could have sighed in pleasure against his mouth. Mercifully, he _finally_ responded to her and began kissing her back with an intensity she’d only ever seen from him on the battlefield. The cracks in his mental walls spread deeper and wider until she was able to catch glimpses of those same feelings from moments ago swirling behind them. Her head swam at the assault on her senses and she found herself feeling drunk and dizzy at the combination of his Force signature radiating in her mind while his tongue danced against her own.

When he pulled away she found herself gasping, partially to suck the much needed air into her lungs and partially because she felt so _wrong_ without him there. When she dared to look up at him, she could see flames raging in his eyes and it was enough to wipe her mind clean of any coherent thought that didn’t involve her, Rex, and his mouth returning to hers. He kept his gaze locked onto hers as his hands slid slowly down from her hips, across the curve of her ass and came to rest on the backs of her thighs. In one swift movement he bent down and hoisted her upward, spinning them around until her back was pressed against the cool durasteel of the building. Ahsoka wrapped her legs around Rex’s hips instinctively, drawing him as close to her as she could. She felt the length of him pressed against her center from where he stood between her legs, felt him hard and throbbing with need for _her_. It was enough to succeed in tearing a moan from both of their throats.

Ahsoka met with no resistance when she pulled him back to her, crushing their lips together in a heated frenzy. Her short nails raked over the back of his neck and she shifted her hips forward, desperate to feel more of him against her aching need. Rex groaned into her mouth and the sound was so desperate, so completely and utterly _pleading_ that Ahsoka felt like she could have come undone right then.

Instead, she let her hand trail down his chest and snake its way between them. She had more than half a mind to let him take her right there against the wall of the bunkhouse, Maker be damned who might see. All her fuzzy brain could comprehend was that she needed him, and he needed her, and as close as they were, it was nowhere near close enough.

Her fingers had just dipped inside the waistband of Rex’s blacks when his hand locked around her wrist, pulling her away. His own hand jerked back from her like he’d been struck, all of the warmth and passion sucked out of her as though she’d just inadvertently stumbled into the gravitational pull of a blackhole. He set her gently back on the ground and stepped away from her, refusing to meet her eyes.

And just like that, Ahsoka’s stained glass heart slipped from her grasp, clattered to her feet, and shattered.

* * *

**_Rex’s POV_ **

For the second time tonight the question flashed through his racing mind, _“What the hell had he gotten himself into?”_

It had taken him a minute to process that it was Ahsoka speaking to him. The image of her behind his eyelids as he thrusted against his hand was so clear, so vivid, that when he first heard “Need a hand, Captain?” he’d thought it had been his imagination running wild. But as quickly as it had come, the false hope that it had all been in his mind had fled, leaving him panting, sweating, and _terrified_ with his hand down his pants. 

He unwound his fingers from his leaking and desperate cock ever so quietly and slowly, with as little movement as he could manage while still removing his hand fully and tucking himself safely back in. Maybe she wouldn’t notice?

_Please, please, please, let her not have noticed..._

He couldn’t speak, his tongue was sandpaper in his mouth, rough and scraping to find the appropriate words to make this ok somehow. He sputtered, “Commander...I…” but nothing else was willing to depart from his lips. How he must look to her right now...His face on fire with unfulfilled passion and tinged with embarrassment, his hands trembling and futilely trying to hide himself from her searching eyes. 

“I went to your room. You left your armor in the common room, so I thought I’d bring it back. You weren’t there, obviously, so I went looking for you.” She was walking towards him now. He froze. His heart was determined to thump its way out of his chest. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She was holding his breath hostage as she moved, like grace made into substance, all fluid movements and long legs. Her arms were crossed across her chest, pushing up her cleavage just the tiniest bit, making his needy cock jump and brush up against his palm through his blacks. He bit the inside of his mouth to silence the moan that threatened to leap from his throat at his accidental contact. He watched, helpless to do more than stare as she moved ever so slowly closer.

He needed to stop this before it went any further. Before he did something they’d both regret. Before he made a complete di’kut of himself. “Commander, I’m so-uh, that is, I was-” 

_Well, so much for not making a complete di’kut of himself_.

“I reached for you in the Force.” A step closer.

“I know exactly what you were doing.” Two more steps. 

She was so close now he could touch her if he wanted to. He only needed to reach out. But Maker help him, he just _couldn’t_. So he just stood there, frozen in both apprehension and breathless anticipation. Looking into her eyes and wondering if she was as terrified as he was right now. If she was, he couldn’t tell.

One more step. 

Now she was touching him. He could count her eyelashes. Those full lips that he’d fallen in love with just a short time ago as they’d whispered across his in the common area, were now tickling his ear seductively as she breathed, “Do you want to know what I think?” He shivered, breath catching in his chest before he could control his reaction. _Gods yes he wanted to know what she thought._ More and more his muscles tensed in nervous expectation, every fibre of his being stretched and pulled so tight he _knew_ he might snap. 

He _knew_ this was a bad idea, he did... _but fuck he wanted her so badly right now_.

“I think you need to kiss me the way we _both_ know you should have back in that common room.”

He sucked in a harsh breath at her words before it halted completely in his lungs when she leaned in, one arm sliding around his neck. He was sure now he had stopped breathing altogether. 

He honestly didn’t know what she wanted here. What she _really_ wanted. A kiss on a dare was one thing, but what the kriffing hell was she doing now? There was no way she really wanted him. Like he wanted her. _So fucking badly._

And then she kissed him. 

She pressed her lips to his, similar to what she had done in the common room earlier and yet so starkly different. His eyelids wanted to close, to savor this moment, but he still couldn’t move. This kiss was... _intentional_. It felt...certain, sincere and determined. He didn’t know how to process that. _Did she really want him? Like this?_

Her other arm had wound its way around his neck to join its counterpart as she coaxed his head closer towards her. He didn’t resist. His mind was in shambles, short-circuiting, and cluttered with a mess of questions he had no kriffing answer to. She tugged him closer, curious fingers caressing the back of his neck. 

_Intentionally_. 

And then he kissed her back. _With everything he fucking had_.

His mouth flush against hers, his tongue darted out to taste her like he’d wanted to with every nerve in his body back in that common room earlier. His hands urgently shot out to grip her hips and yank her body against his. He wanted to feel every curve, every line of her form, to explore and worship her with his hands as his tongue claimed her mouth. He tilted his head, diving in deeper determined to conquer every corner of her mouth with each pass of his tongue along her own. 

He craved to taste more of her. He was desperate to feel more of her. Touch as much as he could, as his body pulsed with frantic, overwhelming, and all-consuming need. 

He pulled away, watching her gasp for breath, those incredible lips slightly parted and panting, her cheeks flushing a really fucking sexy brick red color as her glazed eyes watched him to see what he’d do next. He felt a little like a hungry nexxu staring down his next meal. His gaze was intense, powerful, laser locked on her eyes as he slowly walked his fingers from her hips to her ass and onto the backs of her thighs, which he gripped forcefully. He gave her less than a second to ponder his intentions before he swiftly lifted her up, spun her around and slammed her back against the barracks wall.

 _He needed her. Now_. 

Needed her like the air he breathed. Like that harsh, chilly air he was fighting to drag into his lungs between their rough and needy kisses.

He felt her legs curl around his hips, her ankles nudging his hips forward, closer into her wiggling body. He was powerless to do anything but oblige her wishes. As the head of his weeping cock, still confined in his blacks, brushed against her wet center, he moaned, deep and raw, the sound ripped unbidden from his dry throat. Her answering moan was almost the end for him. It was such a beautiful sound-so unrestrained and wild it was all he could do to hold himself back. He could feel her dampness soak through his blacks as he slowly and carefully rubbed his aching length along her over her clothes.

He felt her hands around his neck again, urging his mouth back to hers. He crushed her lips, tongue immediately demanding entry which she granted. This kiss was so uninhibited, a little sloppy and overeager. It was perfect. 

Her nails were leaving long lines of her pleasure down his neck, the combination of rapture with the slight sting causing his throbbing cock to twitch persistently. He felt her shift in position so that more of her was pressed against the heart of his desire, her skirt riding up past her hips and her soaked panties rubbing tantalizingly along his length. His tongue stopped moving as he groaned long, pitiful, and _completely fucking wrecked,_ deep into her mouth. His body felt like it was being overtaken with a primal need to just _take her_ right here and right now and who fucking cares if someone came around the corner. He rubbed against her, slow and steady, delighting in the friction and pressure exactly where they both needed it.

Her hand was moving now as he sucked rhythmically on her tongue. Her curious fingers blazing a trail of fire between their straining bodies to breach the sensitive skin beneath the waist of his blacks. His whole body jerked at the sensation of her fingers there. _Fuck, it was everything he’d wanted for so kriffing long_.

 _It was everything he couldn’t have_. 

_Everything he couldn’t fucking have._

That thought hit him hard, a chilling realization. Hit him like someone had launched him headfirst into a snowdrift on Hoth stark naked. His hand dropped one of her thighs to shoot out and capture her wrist before it could venture further and shut down his brain altogether, holding it still while he caught his breath, panting heavily. He’d pulled away from her mouth now too, already missing the caress of her tongue against his own. Aware of how many places their bodies were smashed together, he hastily pulled back. He groaned as he resolutely committed himself to the decision he’d made, and placed her ever so delicately on the ground in front of him.

He dropped his eyes, looking away in shame and full humiliation.

Even as he peeled her roaming hands from his body, he wondered if he was doing the right thing or not. She’d wanted him... _really_ wanted him and Maker help him, he’d wanted her too. Still wanted her. _So fucking badly_ that it was a painful ache in his chest. _And an ache in other places too_. 

She was looking at him, he could feel it even if he was too fearful to meet her eyes. Feel her gaze like the sun, burning and relentless. She deserved an explanation. She deserved an apology. She certainly deserved better than this. He swallowed deep, her taste still lingering in his mouth and he starved for her. 

It didn’t matter. None of it mattered: his feelings, that she’d started it, that he wanted more than life itself to continue it. _None of it_. Because it was wrong. Because they couldn’t. They just couldn’t. This whole mess was his fault. All his fault because he’d lost control. Lost control so spectacularly that Ahso- _Commander Tano_ -was standing here right now in front of him looking defeated, broken and _hurt_. Something he’d never wanted to do to her. _Never_. But he had.

 _And he hadn’t cared one fucking bit_.

Hadn’t even thought about the consequences as he’d crushed his lips to hers. Hadn’t given it _one karking thought_ as he’d slammed her up against the barracks wall like some horny vod on a first date and she was just some tool to get him off.

 _Gods she deserved so much better_.

“Ahs-uh, _Commander_...I, uh...” 

This was ridiculous. He was Captain Rex of the fucking 501st and he was better than this. She deserved better. He pulled himself together and stood at full, formal attention, opting to overlook that his heavy and overeager cock was still twitching against his thigh as if trying to reach her, “Sir, I’m so sorry. This was wrong. _I_ was wrong. Whatever punishment you think is appropriate for my, uh, _indiscretions_ , well Sir I won’t argue. I deserve-”

She cut across him, her watery eyes forcing his to yield and meet them halfway, “Didn’t you…” she took a deep breath and tried again, shattering his heart and searing his soul with each word, “Don’t you want me? I thought… Didn’t you...want it?”

_Yes._

“No.” 

That one small word as it wrenched itself from his lips may as well have been an explosion. It tore down everything in its path, liberating the tears that had been suspended in her large pleading eyes and leaving him behind, vanquished and ruined to stare at the aftermath. He wasn’t sure if he could fix what he’d just done.

“I meant...uh, it’s...it’s not right. We shouldn’t have. We _can’t…_.”

He wanted to say more, although Maker knows he didn’t have the right words for this, but she was turning away now. Decisive and intentioned as she spun on her heel and walked away from him, taking his life force with her. Each step of her retreat was a new dent in his armor, a new scar upon his heart. 

_But he had to say what he’d said. Had to stop this before it went too far. Didn’t he?_

She deserved better. She would get past this. He would get past this. And it was the right thing to do.

_Wasn’t it?_

He waited until she’d rounded the corner of the barracks. Waited long after that as the shadows stretched and lengthened around him. Waited until he couldn’t bear to wait anymore before finally taking that first leaden step towards the barracks and his bunk and the sleep that he knew wouldn’t come. 

_If it was the right thing to do, why did it feel so wrong?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Rex :(
> 
> Thank you all SO much for reading and especially for your kudos, subscribes and feedback. Your comments truly mean the world to us as we LOVE to hear what you all think! We hope you enjoyed this and can't wait to hear all of your thoughts!


	3. Pure Intentions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh gosh, y'all... strap in, grab a drink or some snacks and hang on tight because this chapter is a BEAST. Check out the gorgeous art by Ahmose007 we added to the beginning of this chapter, too!
> 
> There's quite a bit of Mando'a in this chapter as well, so here is a quick translation guide for reference:
> 
> oya - a triumphant shout  
> ne shab’rud’ni - "don't mess with me;" an extremely strong warning often preceding violence  
> tihaar - a strong, colorless beverage with a very high alcohol content  
> chakaar - general term of abuse; literally, "scumbag"  
> or'dinii - moron, idiot  
> shabuir - like "jerk" but much stronger; an extreme insult  
> sooran, shab! - a contemptuous and triumphant comment; literally, "suck on that, chump!"  
> vor entye - an expression of thanks; literally, "I accept a debt"  
> kov'nyn - Keldabe kiss; a sacred expression of affection  
> aliit ori'shya tai'din - "family is more than blood"

* * *

**_Fives’ POV_ **

Fives was well aware that he lacked anything even remotely resembling subtlety, thank you very much.

He had never been one to beat around the bush, disguise his true feelings or pretend to be anything other than what he was. How the Captain and Commander seemed to manage it for so long, he truly had no kriffing clue.

But what he lacked in subtlety, he made up for with tact. Or, more accurately, powers of persuasion. He could damn near charm the horns off a kath hound if given the opportunity. It was a trait that had served him well on a _personal_ level on more than one occasion and it was how he knew _exactly_ how to goad Rex into taking part in their game.

Granted, he wasn’t exactly expecting his friends-slash-superior officers to come dangerously close to fucking on the table. But hey, Fives wasn’t going to look a gift orbak in the mouth.

Admittedly, he wasn’t particularly surprised when the Captain made a hasty exit from the common room after Ahsoka had followed through with the dare he’d given her. Fives could read his vod like a book - not to mention, he would’ve had to be blind not to notice that Rex certainly was not _at ease_ during that whole ordeal. Judging by the way the Commander was now smiling to herself while shifting conspicuously in her seat - and the fact that she hadn’t made a single move to scroll to the next page of her report since she’d picked up her data pad - he was inclined to believe the feeling was entirely mutual.

Fives watched surreptitiously from behind his sabacc hand as she rose to her feet and hesitated for just a moment before scooping up Rex’s abandoned armor and that soon-to-be infamous incident report and snuck out of the room. Vaguely, Fives wondered how long it would take until she realized Rex had gone in the opposite direction. Once the soft sound of her footsteps had died away, Fives turned to his brothers and grinned.

“ _Oya!_ Don’t all congratulate me at once now.”

“Congratulate you for what?” Echo scoffed at him. “Sending all of our cocks to an early grave? Pretty sure I dented my codpiece…”

He cast a despairing look southward but Fives dismissed him with a wave of his hand. “You’ve got two hands and plenty of cold water in the ‘fresher; you’ll be fine. Plus, your cock’s seen worse.”

Echo shot him a glare and moved to respond but Fives cut across him. “You guys can’t seriously tell me you wanted to spend one more rotation watching those two di’kuts pine after each other like a couple of lovesick charhounds.”

Murmurs of agreement rose up around him.

“I see your point,” Kix conceded, frowning down at his data pad that seemed to have frozen. “I just think you should’ve let it happen more naturally.”

Fives blinked at him. “We were grown in a test tube, vod. We age at twice the rate of normal humans. There’s nothing natural about us. Besides, at that rate the Captain probably wouldn’t even be able to stand at attention by the time he finally got around to making a move. Pretty sure the Commander prefers her men-” he made a rude gesture with his hand, “-functional.”

Tup nodded thoughtfully. “Can’t argue with that. Also-“ he threw down his cards on the tabletop and flashed a wide grin. “I win.”

Fives swore and glared down at his own losing hand before dropping ten credits into the trooper’s waiting palm. The room fell back into comfortable silence for a moment while Tup reshuffled the deck. The faint hum of Kix’s data pad restarting floated through the air. In the distance, Fives could hear the distinct sound of footsteps padding through the hallway. Five sets of highly trained ears perked in unison as Commander Tano strode purposefully through the hallway and disappeared out of the front door.

His brothers knew exactly what his reaction would be in an instant and four pairs of gold-tinted eyes fixed onto his own and rolled as one. Fives couldn’t have stopped the I-told-you-so grin from splitting his face even if he’d been under threat of torture. It played at the corners of his mouth even as he reshuffled the cards and dealt the table their new hands. Across from him, he could see Jesse’s lips quirk upward in a smirk.

“Ten credits say they just fuck right there in the bushes.”

A heartbeat passed.

“Twenty,” Kix offered from behind the pale glow of his data pad. “The Captain’s got too much honor for that - and not enough balls.”

Jesse snorted. “You’re on.”

“Double or nothing says the Captain somehow manages to fuck it up before it gets that far,” Echo countered.

Kix and Jesse exchanged a look before nodding in resignation. “Deal.”

As if on cue, there was a loud _thump_ against the far wall of the common room. All five heads snapped to attention, their gazes transfixed on the poster-covered durasteel. A long, heavy pause seemed to stretch over them and fill up every corner of the room. Tup cleared his throat.

“Seems like the odds are in Jesse’s favor, if you ask me,” he declared with a sly grin. “That, or the Commander just Force-threw the Captain into the side of the building.”

“They’re not mutually exclusive,” Jesse said with a shrug. “Togruta are predatory by nature, right? Who knows what the Commander’s into.”

“Or the Captain,” Kix added with a shrug. “It’s always the quiet ones.”

“You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?” Echo countered with a knowing smirk. “Don’t think I haven’t seen what’s on your data pa-“

Echo’s words died on his tongue as the sharp sound of durasteel slamming against durasteel rang through the air. There was no soft _whoosh_ of the bunkhouse door sliding open; instead, it was as though someone had wrenched it open with their bare hands. No more than a nanosecond later, Rex was stomping through the hallway as if Count Dooku himself had suddenly materialized in front of him.

“Captain?” Tup called out worriedly.

_“Ne shab’rud’ni!”_

All five of them reared back as though they’d been struck clear across the face. None of them had ever heard Rex take that tone with anyone outside of the battlefield, especially not his own _vod’ika_. Fives felt himself deflate as though someone had punched a hole in his gut and let all the air out of him. This was not good. This was very, _very_ not good.

Jesse cleared his throat. “Well, looks like you win, Echo.”

The trooper frowned. “This is the only time I can honestly say I wish I hadn’t.”

Fives’ brain was already running a parsec a minute. “Okay,” he stood out of instinct and began pacing back and forth, hand on his chin. “Okay, this is fine. It’s gonna be fine. We can fix this.”

“What do you mean _we?_ ” Kix countered with a pointed look. “ _You’re_ the one who initiated all of this.”

“ _They_ initiated it,” Fives argued emphatically. “They’ve both been pining for each other from a distance for - kriff, as long as I can remember - but they’re too karking scared to do anything about it.”

“Well, he’s not _wrong,_ ” Jesse conceded. “The Captain doesn’t exactly have the best sabacc face. He’s had feelings for Commander Tano since… kriff, since she took command of the 501st, it seems like.”

Echo nodded in agreement. “The Commander, too. I think we’ve all noticed how touchy she can be with Captain Rex - more so than with any other clone, for sure.”

Kix sighed and raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, I admit it; you guys are right. But I still don’t see what the five of us can do to make this better.”

Fives paused mid-step and spun around to face the room again. The gears inside his mind all seemed to click into place at once, a series of puzzle pieces that suddenly fit together perfectly. He grinned as wide as his face would allow. “79’s.”

“79’s?” Kix repeated, arching an eyebrow. “There’s no karking way those two will agree to go to 79’s together.”

“You’re right,” Fives admitted. “That’s why we don’t _tell_ them they’re going together.”

Kix frowned in confusion for a moment before the realization hit him, his lips parting to form a soft ‘O’.

“Message the Captain,” Fives instructed. His heart was racing at the ingenuity of his plan, as though he was on the battlefield and facing down a battalion of droids all on his own but somehow knowing he couldn’t lose. “Tell him he’s going to 79’s tomorrow night with you, Tup and Jesse, no questions asked. Knowing him, he won’t check it until he’s calmed down anyway - maybe not even until the morning.”

Kix nodded and set to work, fingers flying over the screen of his data pad in a blur.

“What about the Commander?” Tup asked.

Fives locked eyes with Echo and an unspoken understanding passed between them.

“Leave Ahsoka to us.”

Adrenaline coursed through Fives’ veins as excited chatter broke out over the room again, each of his brothers animatedly discussing how they planned to tackle what quickly became known as “Operation _Cum_ mander.” Fives felt the smile lingering on his face, a testament to the hopefulness that bloomed inside his chest. This was going to work; he was sure of it.

_It had to._

* * *

**_Rex’s POV_ **

_Fives!_

_Fucking Fives and his goddamn fucking dare!_

He knew he’d probably scared the men when he’d snarled at them to just _back the fuck off_ as he rampaged down the hallway. If he thought about it, which only a small part of him right now cared to do, he realized that they’d never actually seen him like this. He’d never snapped so completely like that, never threatened his brothers before. But he found that, strangely, he didn’t regret it at all. _Not fucking at all._

 _Goddamn Fives! Goddamn him and his knowing smile and his fucking gall to dare Ahsoka to kiss him_. 

To crush him under the weight of a want and need so powerful and yet so forbidden that he couldn’t surrender to it. 

_Fuck you Fives, I’m not allowed to!_

I’m not allowed to give in. Not _fucking allowed_ to yield to my desires. 

_Inappropriate desires_ he reprimanded himself for the hundredth time.

Why couldn’t Fives understand that? Why couldn’t _any of them_ understand that? 

He had _no right_. No right to want her so badly his whole body hurt. No right to need her so desperately that he could barely function. His hands had balled into fists, knuckles blanching under the pressure.

**_No right._ **

_“Fuck you!”_ He screamed, his mind crippled and beaten, his heart shattered and broken. His fist jumped forward, smashing through and decimating the walls he’d built up inside of himself as though they were made of paper, leaving his raw and tortured soul exposed to anyone who chose to view it. The force of his strong fist actually dented the durasteel wall of his room, just above his desk. He jerked his hand back as quickly as he’d punched it forward, embarrassed now at his outburst and by the telltale crater it had left in the wall, evidence now forever reminding him of his recent indiscretions and his loss of control then and now.

His dry, cracked knuckles were bleeding from the force of the impact.

He hadn’t even known who he was screaming at. It might have been Fives. It might have been himself. It might have been his life in general. More than likely, it was all of that and every nuance in between.

He willed his breathing to even out, his fists to uncurl and his fingers to flex, his heart rate to slow and his face to relax. It took much longer than it should have. But once he’d succeeded in guiding himself back to the rigid control he so desperately needed right now, he also became cognizant of a very unnerving fact.

He snorted out a frustrated grunt of reluctant amusement. _Ah fuck, now I’ll have to write an incident report on this_ … It was both funny and upsetting in equal parts. Funny would probably have won out if it was happening to anyone else right now. 

_How could he even explain this?_

He could picture Anakin’s face as he read it. _Actually,_ he thought, _more than likely it will be General Kenobi reading it_. That thought was somehow so much worse. There was no good way to explain it really. He’d never had so little command of himself. _Ever_. He wasn’t sure at all what kind of story he could concoct that would be in any way believable. 

He hung his head and sighed in resignation. That was a problem for another night. 

As he glanced down at his desk, his eyes widened. There, staring him square in the face as if to add insult to injury, was Hardcase’s incident report, neatly laid out with that damnable and notorious page right on top. He just stared at it, willing his eyes to shift, to look at something else. _Anything else_. He was trying so hard not to think about it. Trying even harder not to pick it up. Not to read it.

His hand touched the paper almost longingly and suddenly he didn’t need to read it. He could see it all so clearly. Her face as she read it. Her body language. And that voice...so unlike her own and yet it couldn’t belong to anyone else. He’d never seen her like that before. Sure he’d been attracted to her for...well, as long as he could remember. Sure he’d thought about her in very...unprofessional and inappropriate ways. Especially lately. Which was why he’d been avoiding her. But when she’d read that report, it was so... 

_Ah, fuck_ he groaned. He was hard again. 

Tonight had been more strenuous on his body than any night he could remember in his life. _Ever_. The constant state of almost-release that he’d been in since...well, since _Maker knows when_ today, to be followed by an abrupt halt in any type of satisfaction, was taking a toll on his body and his sanity. It had started with her reading that now-probably-fucking-legendary in the 501st report. The report that he had his hands on right now. 

_Like he wished he had his hands on her._

Like he’d _had_ his hands on her earlier. Pressed firmly against the barracks wall with her legs wrapped tight around his waist as he moved insistently against her. Gripping her hips, yanking her closer. Rubbing along her as she writhed above him, his tongue confidently claiming hers.

He groaned long and deep, the sound low, dark, and rumbling, like the growl of some caged animal offering its one and only warning before it attacked. 

_Desperate._

Abandoning his hard-won control of the situation, of _anything_ right now, he yanked himself out, unsheathing his straining erection, watching with both disgust and eagerness as it sprang free. Giving in completely, he permitted his fingers to wrap around it and stroke. 

Immediately and without any conscious thought, all of his memories from tonight assaulted his vision. He growled again, not sure where this animal inside him had come from but equally unsure of how to lock it safely away again. 

He could see Ahsoka reading that fucking report with that seductive voice and her eyes locked on his. He moaned, hand sliding with purpose now.

He could see her stalking towards him, that look in her eye. _Intentional_.

No, that was wrong. _Wasn’t it?_

Had that look been there, even during the game? 

_That dangerous fucking game_.

He didn’t know anymore. And it didn’t matter. Not anymore and not right now. 

All he knew was that now she was kissing him, her lips smooth, soft and just that tiny bit moist from when she had licked them just heartbeats before. And he hadn’t returned the kiss. 

_Or had he?_

He couldn’t remember and he didn’t stop to dwell on it. _Didn’t fucking care_ right now. 

Now he was safely hidden behind the barracks wall, hand on himself, just like he had it now, picturing those lips on his again. Only with him passionately returning the kiss.

And then she was there, kissing him again. _Tempting him to kiss her back_. And he had. He’d surrendered and _oh fucking Maker_ surrender had never been so sweet. He’d capitulated completely, thrusting his tongue into her mouth just like he wanted to thrust the rest of himself into her.

He was shaking now. So close. His body trembling, his cock leaking and swollen as it peeked from between his fingers with each confident stroke.

Now she was up against that wall again, his body flush against hers with no space in between. No space between them at all. His lips on hers, his hands gripping her hips, his cock brushing her along her soaked underwear, seeping into his blacks and making him ravenous for more.

He knew it was wrong. Wrong then and wrong now to recall it while his body rapidly ascended towards relief. 

_He didn’t fucking care anymore._

He’d wanted her then and he wanted her now. Wished _so karking badly_ that this was her hand and not his fisting his twitching length.

His strokes became faster, his body tensing in anticipation of his so-fucking-long-overdue climax.

He was thrusting against her in earnest now against that unforgiving barracks wall, she was moaning in his ear, her breath tickling his lobe. Her hand had weaseled its way between their undulating bodies, offering that promise of release.

He shattered.

His climax tore through him with such violence that some of the thick, hot jets of his seed actually hit that fucking dent newly adorning the wall above his desk as they shot from his body. He covered that dent. And part of the wall. 

_And that fucking infamous incident report_. 

As his body calmed down, regaining the cool level-headedness that he was famous for but which he’d so recently lost, he took in the consequences of his actions. All of it.

He’d hurt Ahsoka. He’d lost his temper with his brothers. He’d done his level best to punch a solid hole through the wall of his room. He’d fantasized about Ahsoka to get off. And now he’d coated his wall and all of that paperwork with his sticky and frenzied climax.

He sighed. 

He needed a break, a distraction maybe. Something to take his mind off all of the appalling decisions he’d made tonight. Something to ground him and bring him back to reality. To what being a good soldier in the Grand Army of the Republic meant.

A flashing pale blue light in the direction of his bunk caught his eye. His data pad. He cleaned the shame from his body, his wall and his desk and made his way over to the data pad, picking it up absently. There was a message waiting for him. From Kix. 

He wanted to ignore it, wanted to just call it a night already. Didn’t want to hear the virtual slap on the back for kissing Ahsoka during the game. Didn’t want to hear any consoling remarks saying they were sorry if they’d made him angry earlier. Didn’t want any questions or prying or...just didn’t want to think about tonight at all anymore. He was so kriffing drained both emotionally and physically from his activities tonight that he wasn’t sure he could process one more particle of data.

But he was Rex and he couldn’t let a message sit there unanswered. It might actually be important and something which he needed to address with all due haste. He snorted at that thought. He sincerely doubted that was the case, but he couldn’t be sure.

He opened it.

_Hey Rex, Tup, Jesse and I are heading to 79’s tomorrow. Oh, and you’re coming too. No excuses this time. You can either show up on your own, or we’ll drag you out if we have to, vod. 20:00._

The corner of his mouth hitched slowly up into a crooked smile. Well, he’d said he needed a distraction and although 79’s hadn’t been what he had in mind, it would do. He responded right away.

_I’ll be there._

* * *

**_Ahsoka’s POV_ **

Ahsoka blinked down at her data pad as if she’d suddenly forgotten how to read Basic. She didn’t need her mastery of the Force to know that there was almost certainly some sort of ulterior motive behind Fives’ message from the night before.

_You, me and Echo. 79’s. Tomorrow, 19:30 - we’ll meet you outside the Temple. Wear something cute._

No, the timing was too entirely coincidental to actually _be_ coincidental. What she didn’t know was what the motive actually was. To cheer her up, maybe? She was positive Rex hadn’t been in the best mood when he’d finally ventured back inside the bunkhouse last night. Maybe he told them what happened? Maybe Fives and Echo were taking pity on her because of the absolute, raging imbecile she’d made of herself in front of _everyone_ by throwing herself at Rex with wanton abandon. Maker, maybe Rex had tasked them with the job of telling her he was submitting a request to have her removed from command of the 501st and they just thought she’d take the news a bit better if she was good and plastered.

Ahsoka sighed and slid to the floor, back pressed against her bed. Now she was just being ridiculous.

Even still, she couldn’t stop the fresh torrent of shame that rose within her, spreading so fast that it threatened to overtake her entirely. She had been so sure, so absolutely and undeniably _sure_ of what she’d felt in the Force. How could she have been so inherently wrong?

_“Don’t you want me?”_

Tears needled at the backs of her eyes and she blinked hard to keep them at bay.

_“No.”_

A wave of nausea rolled over her and Ahsoka felt her stomach give a violent lurch. There was no denying what Rex had been doing when she’d found him outside the bunkhouse. But as for what he’d felt… Maybe Ahsoka really had misinterpreted it. Maybe she’d just wanted so badly for him to want her, been so desperate for him to reciprocate her feelings, that she was just seeing what she wanted to see.

Maybe it really was just… lust. Just a release. Maybe she was nothing more than a means to an end.

Ahsoka’s data pad beeped from where she’d tossed it on her bed, signaling that the time was 19:00.

Ahsoka set her jaw and wiped roughly at her face with the back of her hand. Rex’s intentions didn’t matter - neither did Fives’ and Echo’s. She would go to 79’s tonight, and she would put on her bravest face, and she would _never_ let them see her break.

Not over this.

Not ever.

On shaky legs she stood, crossing the few paces to stare into her open wardrobe. “Something cute” was vague and unhelpful, especially considering all of Ahsoka’s clothing had to be Jedi-approved. She’d long since done away with the cropped tops and short skirts of her younger years, partially because her style had naturally changed as she’d gotten older and partially because she’d simply outgrown them. What stared back at her now was a row of matching battle dresses and leggings and, in the far rear corner, one elegant dress Padmé had bought her when Ahsoka needed to accompany her to a Senate proceeding - which, though gorgeous, was entirely too much for 79’s.

Shrugging, Ahsoka grabbed one of her battle dresses and examined it. It was the same as the ones she always wore, with one tiny difference - the keyhole cutout at her neckline was just a _tad_ deeper and wider. It was an impulsive decision she’d made weeks ago, one she’d thought might garner some much desired attention from a certain clone Captain. She’d never been able to work up the nerve to actually wear it, though.

A determined look settled onto her features as she stepped into the dress and tugged up the zipper. Fine. If Rex wasn’t going to appreciate it, maybe Fives and Echo would.

She glanced back down at her data pad and saw it was 19:25. Opting to forgo her leggings, Ahsoka pulled on her boots and started making her way outside of the Temple. True to form, Echo and Fives were both waiting for her at the gates, pointedly ignoring the weary eye of the Temple Guard. Ahsoka intentionally avoided his eyes as she slipped past him and drew in a deep breath to steady herself for whatever was to come.

“Boys,” she greeted with a smile that they both returned.

“Commander!” They responded in unison, giving her a salute before immediately dropping all hints of formality. Fives offered her his arm. “You look ravishing this evening, Commander.”

“Absolutely stunning, as always,” Echo added, taking up her other arm.

“At ease, boys.”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes good-naturedly but couldn’t fight the grin that was threatening to spread across her face. The three of them turned and headed in the direction of 79’s, only a few blocks away. Fives and Echo chatted animatedly and Ahsoka found herself immediately at ease, almost forgetting why she’d felt so uptight in the first place.

_Almost._

She shook her head just slightly to push the thought away. Rex, the night before, whether he did or didn’t want her - none of it mattered. Not tonight, at least. Just for a while, Ahsoka wanted to have a good time with her friends. She wanted to drink, and laugh, and do her best to smother the fiery ball of shame, rejection and humiliation that burned deep in her gut. And maybe catch a glimpse of that _lovely_ Twi’lek girl who’d caught Fives’ attention with her _riveting conversation_ the night before.

Regardless, she decided as they rounded the corner and 79’s came into view, it was going to be a good night. With a smile on her face, she watched as Echo pulled the door open and Fives led her inside, off toward whatever it was the evening was going to bring.

The boys ushered her into a booth near the back, the same one they always claimed whenever they decided to grace the establishment with their patronage. Fives sidled in beside her while Echo called out a greeting to the bartender. He returned with three drinks in tow and deposited one in front of each of them. Ahsoka couldn’t help but notice that her’s looked decidedly more colorful than the other two, gorgeous shades of pink and orange swirling together like a liquid sunset in her glass. She had no knifing clue what it was but it tasted sharp and sweet on her tongue, so she couldn’t complain. She’d nearly finished the whole thing as Echo recounted how Tup had been trying - with extremely limited success, apparently - to seduce one of the waitresses when suddenly Ahsoka froze.

Icy fingers ran down her spine and she had to fight hard to suppress a shiver. Though her back was to the door, Ahsoka could recognize Rex’s Force signature anywhere. She made no attempt to reach for him, partially because she was afraid of what she might find if she did and partially because she wanted to enjoy her _karking_ evening. Fives and Echo exchanged a look, obviously sensing her sudden change in demeanor. Fives slid just the tiniest bit closer to her.

“Well, I suppose you know that we didn’t _exactly_ have pure intentions when we invited you here,” Fives admitted, not even bothering to sound ashamed.

Ahsoka took another sip of her drink. “Nothing about you is pure, Fives.”

Echo snorted and Fives chuckled, knowing she was right.

“Why don’t you go say hi, vod?” He prompted Echo, shooting him a knowing look. “I’ll tell the Commander what we’ve planned for tonight.”

Echo’s lips curved into a smirk. “Sure thing, brother. Back in a minute, Commander.”

Ahsoka nodded and watched him slide from the booth until he disappeared on the other side of Fives, where she didn’t dare to look. He slung his arm around her shoulders and Ahsoka found herself practically curling into his side, craving the comfort her friend provided. She took a deep breath.

“Alright, Fives. What’s your master plan?”

He grinned at her. “Flirt with me.”

If Ahsoka had been holding anything in that moment, she was certain it would have clattered to the ground right next to her jaw. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I’m serious!” He insisted. “Make our dear old Captain jealous.”

Ahsoka sighed and pulled away from him just a fraction. “Fives, I appreciate the effort here but I really don’t think that’s going to work. Rex doesn’t wa-“ she _felt_ the waver in her voice more so than she actually heard it and she swallowed hard to regain some sense of control. “The Captain isn’t interested in me in that way.”

Fives gave her shoulder a squeeze, urging her to meet his eyes. “Permission to speak freely, Commander?”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes again, even as the corner of her mouth rose almost imperceptibly. “When have you ever needed permission, Trooper?”

He smirked and said simply, “You’ve never been so wrong. We don’t know what happened between you two last night but we _do_ know that whatever it was, the Captain isn’t exactly handling it well.”

‘Fives, he made it pretty clear that he-“

 _“Ahsoka,_ listen to me.”

The use of her name made her montrals perk in surprise. The men hardly _ever_ used her real name, save for Rex and even that was a rarity. She blinked up at him with wide eyes, every bit of her vulnerability on display.

“We’ve all seen the way the Captain looks at you. It’s like he’d jump in front of a blaster bolt for you and then thank you for giving him the opportunity. And you-“ he paused for a beat, almost as if he was uncertain if he should continue. “You could be in a room with a thousand clones and you’d _still_ only be looking at Rex. But somehow you’re both convinced the other is just looking at the kriffing wall!”

Ahsoka felt a rush of warmth bloom under her skin from more than just the alcohol. It was one thing when she was the one interpreting Rex’s actions and feelings; it left so much room for subjectivity to creep in, for her to see whatever it was she wanted to see. But to hear it from Fives… Could he be right? Could Rex really…?

A frown pulled at her features. If that was the case, why would he have pushed her away the night before? She’d all but thrown herself at him; it wasn’t like she’d left any room for him to misread her intentions. What reason could he possibly have for fighting his feelings so vehemently, to the point where he was apparently willing to slice her with his words like a vibroblade?

“Ahsoka.”

She blinked, drawing herself back to the present as Fives tilted her chin up so she was looking at him again. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

She opened her mouth to do just that, to unleash every fear and doubt and question that was swirling around inside her fuzzy head. Instead, her voice came out soft and small.

“I can’t.”

Fives grinned at her. “Then _trust me,_ Commander. Trust _us._ ”

As if on cue, Echo returned with two fresh pint glasses in his hand and reclaimed his seat across from them. His eyes darted back and forth between the pair expectantly.

“Well, what’s the verdict?”

Fives squeezed her shoulder again and Ahsoka allowed herself to smirk.

“Well, I’m a bit disappointed that _you_ didn’t want to flirt with me.”

Both men nearly threw their heads back in laughter.

“Don’t worry, Commander,” Fives assured her. “I was just the only one willing to endure the Captain’s wrath.”

“A real martyr for the cause, this one,” Echo added.

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow at him in mock-scrutiny. “ _And_ you didn’t even bring me back another drink. Whose side are you on, Trooper?”

“Hey!” Echo’s hands flew up in surrender. “In my defense, you haven’t even finished the first one yet.”

Ahsoka locked eyes with him and snatched her glass up, tipping her head back and downing the remaining liquid in one gulp.

“You were saying?”

Echo chuckled and moved to stand but Ahsoka waved him off.

“If you guys think the Captain needs to feel some pressure, it certainly isn’t going to happen if I stay hiding in the corner all night.”

Ahsoka practically crawled across Fives’ lap to exit the booth, too worried that the slightest hesitation would cause her to lose her nerve. She straightened her dress as she stood, eyes on the bar where Rex was standing between Tup and Jesse with his back to her. With all the strength she could possibly muster, Ahsoka willed her feet to move in his direction.

“Commander?”

She glanced back over her shoulder and found Fives and Echo wearing twin grins as they watched her walk away.

“Give him hell.”

A wicked smile curved across her face and Ahsoka turned back around, striding forward much more purposefully now. Her friends had given her back her confidence and she was going to use every kriffing bit of it.

Kix called out to her as she approached and Ahsoka had to fight to keep the satisfied look off of her face at Rex’s expression. She grinned back at her friends, exchanged hellos as she sauntered up to the bar, and purposefully installed herself directly between Tup and Rex. She leaned forward against the bar a bit further than she really needed to, popping her hip to the side and resting her chin in her palm when her elbow settled on the bar top.

“Having a good night, boys?”

She could _feel_ Rex’s gaze on her even though she refused to meet his eyes. She tilted her head to the side instead, focusing on Tup and Kix while she waited for the bartender to come back around.

“Better now that you’re here,” Tup replied with a wink and Ahsoka knew instantly that the three of them were in on Fives and Echo’s plan, too.

“Yeah, Commander,” Jesse added from the other side of Rex. “We didn’t realize the boys invited you out.”

“I invited them,” she lied smoothly. When she finally let her eyes rise to meet Rex’s, she found them clouded with deep bronze shadows.

“Captain,” she greeted him simply. Not cold - perfectly emotionless.

“Commander,” came his soft reply.

Ahsoka dropped her gaze and it landed on the fingers curled around his glass. A bandage was wrapped around his knuckles, the faintest tinge of red peeking through. She was certain it hadn’t been there last night. She definitely would have noticed it sometime between removing his vambraces and letting him pin her to the bunkhouse wall.

She swallowed hard to temper those thoughts.

“What happened to your hand, Captain?”

Rex blinked down at his hand as though he’d just remembered he had one. He cleared his throat audibly.

“Training accident.”

Ahsoka frowned. ‘ _Training accident’_ was the universal clone code for “don’t ask questions” when it came to injuries.

“That’s a shame,” she murmured just loud enough for Rex to hear. “I like your hands.”

She watched from the corner of her eye as his fingers clenched so tightly around his glass that she was sure it would shatter in his grip. His lips parted but she would never know if it was in surprise or if he planned to respond, as the bartender had finally made his way back around to her.

“What can I get ya, sweetheart?”

Ahsoka paused for a breath. She’d never actually ordered herself a drink before and had no kriffing clue what she’d been drinking earlier. Her eyes darted back to Rex’s nearly-full glass.

“Whatever he’s having.”

The bartender blinked at her for a moment before glancing up at Rex as though asking his permission.

“Commander, tihaar is probably a bit, uh, _strong_ for your taste.”

Ahsoka fixed him with a look for hardly more than a heartbeat. Wordlessly, she reached out and wrapped her hand around the glass, taking special care to ensure she brushed his fingers with her own. Rex watched with rapt attention as she brought the glass to her lips, eyes never once leaving his as she downed the contents and slammed his empty glass back on the table. Her throat screamed in protest, the clear liquid scalding her insides as it made its way down to her gut - but Ahsoka refused to let it show. She brought her thumb to her mouth instead, wicking away the single drop that escaped her lips and dragging the pad of her finger across her tongue to lick it off.

Rex swallowed _hard._

Ahsoka turned back to the bartender and repeated, “Whatever he’s having. And it looks like my friend here could use another, too.”

The bartender gaped at her for half a moment before hurriedly filling two glasses with that fiery, colorless liquid and sliding them over to her. She picked up one and left the other for Rex before turning to the men and flashing them a parting grin.

“Make sure you come see me before you head out, okay boys?”

Rapid nods and murmured agreements rose up around her. She cast a final glance back toward a still-stunned Rex.

“See ya ‘round, Captain.”

And with that she turned and headed back toward her shared booth in the corner, a self-satisfied smirk playing across her lips.

* * *

**_Fives’ POV_ **

Fives and Echo watched, wide-eyed and frozen in anticipation at the scene that played out before them.

“She’s good at this,” Echo muttered from across the table, fingers open and closing around his glass in what Fives knew was a bid to relieve some of the tension from his body.

His thoughts flickered back to the night before, to the way her fingers had worked off Rex’s armor almost as if with practiced ease, then to Ahsoka’s colorful reading of the incident report in the common room.

“Yeah she is,” he replied. From the safe though restrictive confines of his codpiece, he felt himself stiffen. Clearly all of him agreed.

More than anything, he felt a warm burst of pride swell in his chest. Ahsoka had taken his directive and ran with it at a full sprint. The Commander never had been one to do anything by halves; he really shouldn’t have expected this to be any different.

They watched the long line of her throat as she tipped her head back and downed Rex’s nearly-full drink, neither missing the way Rex’s breath hitched or his subsequent forceful swallow. Echo grimaced.

“Was that tihaar?”

Fives could practically feel his throat burning as though he’d chugged the alcohol himself.

“I think so.”

The two of them exchanged a look. Even _they_ wouldn’t down a glass of tihaar in one gulp, and they’d practically come out of the growth tank drinking it. Echo let out a low whistle.

“The Commander’s a little scary sometimes, you know that? Powerful. It’s-“

He paused and shook his head, not bothering to finish his thought. He didn’t need to; Fives knew exactly what he’d planned to say. _Hot_. They all thought it; hell, they would’ve had to be both blind and stupid not to. But none of them would voice it aloud and they would certainly never, ever act on it. They all knew Rex’s feelings were different, that they went beyond the dull, lustful ache of acknowledging that the Commander was _aesthetically pleasing_. There was a reverence there, a deep regard for their Commander and who she was as a person - not as their commanding officer, or their Jedi, or even as a woman. It was deeper than that, pure and almost instinctual. And every single one of them respected it.

That didn’t mean Fives wasn’t going to make the absolute most of his situation tonight, though. The galaxy had presented him with a jogan fruit and he was going to make a damn fine cake out of it while he had the chance.

Ahsoka spun around and made her way back to their table. Behind her, Fives could see a look of disdain etched onto the Captain’s face, plain as day as he shouldered past Tup and stomped his way to the front door with Jesse hot on his heels. Kix watched them go until they were out of sight before turning back to Fives and Echo and sending them a broad grin and a thumbs up.

“Perfect,” Echo mused, full of pride. “Looks like your plan’s right on track, vod.”

Fives grinned broadly and turned his attention back to the Commander’s approaching form. Her eyes flicked between his and Echo’s for a moment. Questioning, he knew. Wanting to know if she’d made them proud.

They both sent her a thumbs up and she grinned wide. Fives didn’t need any sort of mastery of the Force to feel the relief rolling off of her in waves, even from this distance. Suddenly, her expression dropped. Fives’ brows knit tightly together. He saw the hand on her shoulder just a nanosecond after she seemed to sense the presence, though apparently she’d still been caught relatively off guard. He watched as she was spun roughly around, her drink sloshing over the lip of the glass. Across from him, Echo made a noise of discontent.

“Do you know that guy?”

Fives leaned to the side just a smidge to get a better view. The man who’d demanded her attention didn’t look particularly familiar, though he supposed it was possible he’d seen him around at some point.

“No.”

A deep frown settled onto his features, mirrored by Echo’s own.

“What do you think he wants?”

Fives scoffed. “A pretty woman like the Commander seemingly alone in a bar? What do you think, vod?”

Echo’s frown deepened. “We should-“

“On it,” Fives cut him off, already half out of the booth and making his way over to the pair. He could see how stiff Ahsoka’s posture was, could practically cut the thick, awkward tension with a vibroblade. The man was standing entirely too close to her despite Ahsoka’s obvious discomfort and it turned Fives’ blood to ice in his veins.

“No,” he could hear Ahsoka saying when he got close enough to be within earshot. “Thank you for the offer but I really need to get back to my-“

She turned to head back to their table, not even bothering to finish her statement, but the man had his fingers wrapped around her upper arm and wrenched her back to face him again, pulling her even closer to him this time. Red flashed across Fives’ vision, his focus now tunneling to lock onto the stranger in front of her as if he were a sniper with this man in his sights. Fury raged in him like an angry rancor rearing its ugly head. Who exactly did this _chakaar_ think he was, putting his hands on Ahsoka like that?

She blinked once in surprise before her muscles twitched, ready to rear back and strike this person who saw fit to touch her without her consent. But Fives got there first, hardly a heartbeat passing before he’d grabbed the man’s wrist in his hand and tore it away, installing himself between him and the Commander.

“I’d rethink that if I were you, _or’dinii_ ,” he seethed through gritted teeth.

A flash of shock passed over the man’s face before giving way to something Fives could only describe as vehement contempt. He wrenched his wrist free and took a step back, eyeing Fives as though he was something unsavory that had made its way to the bottom of this man’s boot. His gaze flicked past Fives to settle on Ahsoka, who had stepped to the side of Fives and was glaring daggers at the stranger. He sneered at her.

“Should’ve known you’d be one to roll around with _clones_ ,” he spat onto the ground as the word left his lips, like poison in his mouth. “Kriff, this place really has gone to the dogs.”

Ahsoka’s chevrons darkened to a deep navy as she moved to cross to the man, white fangs bared like the predator Fives sometimes forgot she actually was. He put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. The man just scoffed.

“Put a leash on your bitch, _clone_ ,” he hissed venomously. “How many of you has she spread her legs for, anyway? You just line up and take your turns one after the other like good little soldiers, don’t you?”

He gave a mock salute, taunting laughter piercing the air. Ahsoka’s eyes widened in shock as her mouth dropped open, stunned. Fives released her and moved instead to grab the man by the front of his shirt, effectively causing his laughter to die somewhere in his throat. He clenched his fist and pulled him upward until they were at eye level, the man’s feet dangling helplessly as he kicked weakly against Fives’ shin guards. Any cruelty in his eyes was replaced by pure, unadulterated fear.

 _Good_ , Fives thought to himself. _He should be afraid_. Some feral beast inside Fives’ chest roared and begged for him to rip this _shabuir_ limb from limb. Instead, he turned and made his way to the door, dragging his prey with him.

“Hey Reggie!” He called out, not bothering to shift his gaze. “I’m taking out your trash.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Fives saw the bartender give a dismissive wave of his hand; this wasn’t the first time Fives had quite literally thrown someone out of the cantina and it most likely wouldn’t be the last.

He only bothered to step one foot out of the door before he sent the man skidding on his shebs against the sidewalk.

_“Sooran, shab!”_

Fives spat on the ground next to him for good measure before turning back the way he’d come. He froze when he found Rex and Jesse standing there just off to the side, both sets of eyes wide and questioning. Fives frowned and stepped fully out of the doorway to face them.

“What happened, vod?”

It was Jesse who posed the question but Fives’ gaze was fixed on Rex. A sharp sting of bitterness rose in his throat, vile and sour. None of this would have ever happened if Rex didn’t have his bucket so far up his shebs. From the corner of his eye, he could see the man scurrying off down the street as quickly as his legs could carry him.

“Ahsoka needed help,” he said simply. “I took care of it.”

Rex’s expression melted into one of alarm.

“What do you mean _needed help_? Where is she? Is she okay? _What happened!?_ ”

He took a step as though to move around Fives but the younger trooper blocked his way.

“I said,” he repeated, voice dangerously low. “ _I took care of it._ She’s not interested in seeing you right now, Captain.”

It was a lie, of course. But Rex didn’t need to know that.

Fives felt as though he’d just drawn his hand back and slapped Rex across the face. There was a flash where his expression crumbled, his hard-set mask giving way to a glimpse of just how sharply the notion stung. Fives felt a wave of guilt roll over him but said nothing, opting instead to head back into the cantina. Behind him, he knew Rex was frozen in place.

The hum of chatter had returned to the room and he was relieved to see that not _every_ eye was fixed on him as he made his way back to Ahsoka. She stood next to their corner booth with Echo, looking smaller than Fives had ever seen her. His heart dropped to his feet even as white hot rage still coursed through his veins like molten lava. How dare some low-life garbage think he could speak to the Commander that way?

“Ahsoka,” he said softly when he reached her, fighting hard to keep the ugly, furious monster from rearing its head again. “Are you okay?”

She refused to meet his eyes and offered only a slight shrug of her shoulder. “M’fine.”

Fives knew better and Echo’s heavy look just confirmed it. Gently he grabbed her hand and led her back through the crowd to the far end of the bar where he could shield her from prying eyes. He watched in his periphery as Jesse and Rex reentered the cantina. The Captain’s eyes locked onto them instantly, though Fives had hardly a mind to care.

 _Good,_ he thought to himself. _Let him see._

“Ahsoka,” he tried again. “Please don’t let anything that _shabuir_ said get to you. He was just angry because you snubbed his advances. He was trying to hurt you.”

“I know,” she offered in a small voice. “But what if… I mean, after last night, the game and the incident report and everything with Rex… Is that how you guys see me, Fives?”

There was a sharp pang in his chest as Fives’ heart shattered behind his armor.

“Ahsoka,” he dropped the rag and put a hand on either side of her face, forcing her watery eyes to meet his determined ones. “None of us would _ever_ think that of you, no matter what. You could sleep with every clone in the GAR and not a single man in the 501st would even dream of looking at you any differently.”

She said nothing but he could feel just a fraction of the tension leave her shoulders. Her eyes were searching his; he couldn’t say for what but he hoped she found it, hoped she could see the conviction reflected there. Suddenly she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close, her head resting against his chest piece.

“ _Vor entye_ ,” she murmured into his armor.

Fives felt the anger at the situation leave him in a rush. His own arms wrapped around Ahsoka’s shoulders and he held her tightly for a moment, as though he could protect her from anything in the galaxy that could possibly seek to harm her. When they finally separated, Fives dared to shoot her a devilish grin.

“You know, if you’d like to test that theory, I happen to be free tonight.”

Ahsoka snorted before her head fell back in laughter, one hand flying behind her to keep herself from toppling over the bar altogether.

“I’ll keep that in mind, Trooper.”

He grinned at her, glad to have been able to elicit a laugh from his friend. Fives would never let anyone make her feel like she was less than perfect, less than worthy, less than the smart, funny, strong person they all knew her to be. Not if he could help it.

“You know what bothered me the most, though?”

He quirked an eyebrow at her.

“The way he talked about you - about clones in general. Ugh, it was just so-“ fury flashed in her eyes and her tongue darted out to smooth across her sharp incisors. “-So backward. I know it’s not the Jedi way but I would’ve given anything to wipe that pompous smirk off his ugly face.”

Fives felt a fresh warmth bloom in his chest at her words. Rex had been right the night before - Ahsoka did always go out of her way to make them feel like… well, like people. She was their fiercest defender and he - all of the men, he was certain - held her in the highest regard because of it.

“I know,” he murmured, voice soft.

Unsure exactly what possessed him but overcome with the desire to thank her somehow when he knew he lacked the right words, Fives leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers. _Kov’nyn_. The Keldabe kiss wasn’t an actual kiss, of course - but it was intimate, an act of reverence and affection the clones typically only reserved for their _vod’ika_. In Fives’ mind, his _vod’ika_ included Ahsoka.

_“Aliit ori’shya tal’din.”_

He felt the small smile creep across Ahsoka’s features. One of her hands closed over his and she gave it a small squeeze, silently telling him she understood. Behind him, from the far end of the bar, he could feel two darkened eyes boring holes through his armor.

“Commander,” he said simply, moving to pull away. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed a certain Captain who’s had his eyes on you since we came over here…”

The corner of her mouth hitched upward. “I have.”

“And in keeping with the theme of the evening…” he swallowed hard, heart pounding so violently against the chest piece that he could hear it in his own ears. “Permission to do something inappropriate, Commander?”

She exhaled the breath of a laugh but hesitated for just a moment. “Permission granted, Trooper.”

Fives sucked in a deep breath and pulled back, giving her the tiniest nod. He was suddenly very cognizant of the fact that he was standing between her legs, pressed very close to her. His whole body felt warm, thrumming with an odd combination of nerves and excitement. One hand moved to the small of her waist while the other came to the outside of her thigh, sliding upward with a cautious slowness until his fingers had just barely breached the hem of her dress. He dipped his head until his lips were at her montral, his thumb tracing tiny circles on the bare skin of her thigh.

“Just tell me if you’re uncomfortable, okay?”

She swallowed thickly and gave the smallest of nods.

Fives brushed his nose against the underside of her montral, selfishly relishing the shiver he felt run down her spine. He was growing painfully hard inside the confines of his armor and he willed himself to ignore it. What he was doing meant nothing, of course. He wouldn’t even have wanted it to mean anything, if given the choice. He was doing this to help the Commander and, in a strange and twisted way, to help the Captain too.

But that didn’t mean he wasn’t enjoying it.

He trailed his nose down the side of her face and then over the line of her jaw, urging her to tip her head back just so. His one hand moved from her waist to the small of her back, drawing her closer to him with gentle pressure. He was very, _very_ aware of the way he was pressing between her thighs and he found himself both cursing his codpiece and thankful for it in equal measure.

The hand Ahsoka had used to support herself came to rest where his bicep lay beneath his armor. Her fingers curled around it as much as they could, confident as she now was that Fives would support her weight. He traced a line down the side of her throat and she shivered openly, the exhale that escaped her lips sounding dangerously close to a sigh.

“I can stop,” he breathed against her skin, the words barely above a whisper. Silently, selfishly, he begged her not to ask him to.

_“Don’t.”_

Her response was so soft he almost didn’t hear it but his body reacted instantaneously. He _throbbed_ behind his codpiece, swollen and aching and he’d hardly even kriffing _touched her._ How had Rex been able to kiss her and not succumb to the urge to just take her right there in the common room in front of everyone? He hadn’t even done as much and he was ready to lay her back across the bar and-

He wouldn’t, of course.

At least, not unless she wanted.

Instead he reached out and traced her pulse point with his tongue. He was drowning in the sound of her sharp inhale - so nearly a gasp - and it spurred him on. Without pausing to consider the ramifications of his actions, he closed his lips over the place where he could feel the faint thrum of her life’s blood and sank his teeth into her skin. Ahsoka whimpered this time, small and soft in his ear, and he knew without a doubt that a lesser man would have come undone right then and there.

But he was Fives, so instead he pulled away just a fraction.

“Are you still okay?”

“Yes,” came her immediate reply, breathy and the slightest bit distant. “I just didn’t think- I didn’t expect you to-”

She broke off and swallowed hard, a movement Fives felt against his lips that were still hovering over her skin.

“It’ll leave a mark.”

He smirked against her. “It will. Is that okay?”

“I…” She paused for a moment but then he felt the upturn at the corner of her mouth. “Yes.”

“Good.”

He had half a mind to return to her neck, to mark her across every available piece of flesh he could get his lips on, but he resisted. With tantalizing slowness, he traced a path upward to her mouth. His lips hovered there for a breath, just long enough to feel the ghost of her own against his before he-

A hand closed around the back of his armor and wrenched him backward. He hardly had time to blink before a fist collided with his jaw. He stumbled at the force of it, barely registering Rex’s furious face in front of his own. He opened his mouth to say something but Ahsoka cut across him, hopping down from the bar and placing herself between the two of them. Liquid rage flashed in her wide eyes as she spun to face the Captain.

“What the kriff are you doing, Captain?!” She hissed through gritted teeth.

Rex blinked once before turning his attention to her with a glare.

“What am _I_ doing? What are _you_ doing!? You’re in public, Ahsoka! You’re Fives’ commanding officer! You can’t just-“ he waved his hand wildly toward the bar. “-fuck in the middle of the _kriffing_ cantina!”

She pulled back for the briefest of moments before fixing Rex with a venomous look that could have stopped a thousand battle droids dead in their tracks. “That’s funny, Captain, considering you didn’t seem to have those same hang ups last night when you threw me up against the bunkhouse wall and shoved your tongue down my throat.”

Fives’ eyes widened a fraction. So _that_ was what had happened the previous night…

How in the _kriffing hell_ had Rex been able to walk away from that? Fives hadn’t even kissed her and he was certain he wouldn’t have even come up for air if Rex hadn’t torn him away.

Rex had the good sense to look remorseful at her words, for all the good it did. Ahsoka said nothing as she spun on her heels and walked out the door. Rex blinked after her for a moment before swearing under his breath and stomping off after her.

That same silence had fallen over the room again. Across the bar, he heard Reggie give a long-suffering sigh.

“I’m gonna ban you one of these days, Fives; I swear to the Maker.”

Behind him, Fives heard Echo clear his throat.

“You okay, vod?”

Fives raised a hand to his tender jaw, rubbing it carefully as a smile tugged at his lips.

“Worth it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so, SO much for reading! Ahmose007 and sushifish are insanely proud of this chapter and we hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it! Don't worry, we promise we won't be torturing these two forever ;)
> 
> As always, we cannot thank you enough for your kudos, comments and subscribes! We're both DYING to know your thoughts on this chapter, so don't hold back!!


	4. Only You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out the beginning of the chapter for more amazing artwork by Ahmose007!!

* * *

**_Rex’s POV_ **

_“Ahsoka!”_

Not even a backward glance. No hesitation in her stride.

All he could see was red. Bright, vivid, fierce, and _bloodthirsty_ red. And maybe Fives’ fucking face, smirking and breathing heavily as he nuzzled along Ahsoka’s neck. He was going to kill Fives. Rip him apart limb by limb and then castrate him. But not yet. Another time when he could devote every ounce of his energy to pounding every inch of that smug and self-satisfied grin from his fucking face. Right now his only target was Ahsoka. He needed to catch up to her. He needed to... Well, he didn’t know what exactly he needed to do, but he knew needed to reach her. Every fibre of his being was screaming, _raging_ , at him to reach her. He _had_ to reach her or he felt like he’d die.

 _“Ahsoka!”_ His voice was raw, unhinged, vocal cords practically tearing in his throat as he howled her name.

Still she marched on, obstinately maintaining her rapid pace, each swift step exuding purpose, contempt, and _intention_.

She was walking fast but he was walking faster, desperation and a bone deep urgency shoving him forward without a care as to anything in the galaxy short of halting her progress.

He felt his shoulder ram against an innocent passerby, probably knocking them down. He couldn't be sure though because he didn’t even look back, his ears closed to any sound save for Ahsoka’s voice. 

He heard only a deafening silence. 

In a few hundred meters more they’d be at the Jedi Temple. She’d go inside and he’d...well he didn’t want to think about what he’d do right now. Because she _was_ going to stop and he _was_ going to talk to her. 

_Now._

**_“AHSOKA!_ ** _Goddamnit, Ahsoka!_ **_STOP!”_ **

He was running, faster than he’d ever run in his life. Everything around him a dull blur, a hazy vision as he sprinted towards her. 

He began to panic. It wasn’t going to be fast enough. His heart was going to burst from his chest. _No, this isn’t right. It_ ** _can’t end like this_** _tonight!_ But she was too far ahead and the Temple was too close. 

_It wasn’t going to be enough._

He stopped, beaten and defeated when she reached the Temple steps. 

“ _Ahsoka_ , _please_.” It was broken and soft, barely a tattered whisper humbled from his lips. 

She stopped.

His heart leapt and he felt the most nanoscopic grain of hope surge through his entire being. His body was so buoyant now he might actually float away. She turned toward him but made no further movement. Studying him. Deciding if what he had to say was worth her time. Deciding if _he_ was worth her time.

 _I’ll make it worth your time_.

He took one audacious step towards her, his eyes locking onto hers, his gaze entreating her to allow him to. She made no move to turn away or impede his advance. 

Another bold step, maintaining that critical eye contact. She didn’t turn him away.

One more brave step. Then another. And another. And another, holding her eyes captive as he steadily gained that precious ground he needed to reach her.

One more fearless step. He was close now and she was still caught, trapped in his gaze as he moved inexorably forward.

Now he was in front of her. _Finally_. Close enough to touch her if he wanted to. 

_And he did want to._

For the first time since he’d left 79’s to charge for what felt like kilometers after the shadow of her stretched tauntingly in front of him, his step faltered. Now that he was here, reaching his goal against all karking odds, he wasn’t at all sure what to do. Not at all sure what she wanted or what he needed to say.

 _“Ahsoka.”_ Her name was a plea on his chapped lips, beseeching her to hear him out, begging her to understand. _“Please.”_ He knew he was asking her for so much with those two words. He didn’t know what he expected in return.

Ahsoka glanced back at the Temple guard, her head tilting slowly to the side, contemplating something. For one hysterical moment, he was sure that she was going to turn on her heel and leave him standing there on those steps he wasn’t allowed to ascend, with his heart on his sleeve and his soul bare in front of her.

But she didn’t. She gave him his chance. _Thank the fucking Maker_. That was all he wanted. A chance to make things right between them again.

Still enigmatically silent, she strode forward confidently, brushing his shoulder carelessly as she passed him and began heading in the direction of the barracks. He ran his hand across the blonde fuzz on top of his head, confused and anxious, but rushing to follow her wherever she might lead, pulled along as though tied to her with an invisible string and his body had no choice. He _felt_ as though he had no choice. 

Thick and heavy as the atmosphere of Tatooine, her silence was slowly crushing him. He wanted to shatter that silence, that oppressive quiet hanging over them, but something in him commanded that he wait and so he did. She led him directly to the barracks and then inside, her steps resolute and sure. _Intentional._ It was late and all inside was still and motionless, no one awake anymore. She led him past the common room, past the mess hall and all the way to his own quarters.

She punched in the entry code unceremoniously and stepped into his room, looking for all the world as though this was something she did every day. He followed her inside without the hesitation that _he_ _knew_ he should probably have right now, surprising himself as he closed the door, committing to whatever she had planned. 

Then she finally turned to face him, her face a tapestry of anger, hurt, desperation, frustration, disappointment, and somehow glowing faintly under all of that...maybe hope? He could feel all of those emotions from her, radiating outward and hitting him straight in the gut with the force of a physical collision. It knocked the breath from his lungs. Or maybe that was just her glare.

 _“Ahsoka_.”

“Shut up, Rex.”

“Ahsoka, I-”

“I said _shut the fuck up,_ Rex!” He did. “You have no idea, do you?” 

He didn’t. Not a _karking clue_ what she was looking for here. Hell, he hadn’t even known what he was going to say when he caught up to her. Just knew that he had to reach her like he had to have air in his lungs to live. He remained silent, letting her continue and hoping against hope that they’d come out of this ok.

His silence successfully goaded her to speak, but it also injected more venom into her words. “You _really_ _don’t_ know, do you?” 

He hoped she didn’t expect an answer. It _had to be_ rhetorical because very clearly he was a di’kut and had no clue what she was looking for here.

“Rex, you hurt me.” 

His heart stopped beating as those painful words tattooed themselves into his flesh. _He’d hurt her..._

She took a deep breath and continued in a softer and slightly less hostile tone, “You really hurt me, Rex. When I kissed you during truth or dare, I wasn’t sure how you felt, but when I kissed you again just on the other side of this kriffing wall, _I knew_ you wanted me.” He could see the tears blossoming in her eyes now, hanging off her long eyelashes but refusing to fall as she blinked, each drop a new open wound on his heart. “You lied to me. I know you did, Rex. You told me no, that you didn’t want me, but I could feel it. It wasn't true. Just like it’s not true now.”

“I’m sorry, Ahsoka. I was wr-”

“I’m not finished yet, Captain.” He knew he was in trouble, really serious trouble, now that she’d reverted back to the use of his title. “I was crushed, Rex. You have no idea how much what you said hurt me. And then at 79’s tonight-”

The low, dark growl rumbling in the back of his throat would have scared away General Grievous. He couldn’t stop himself. That caged animal inside was insistent, demanding to be heard at the mere mention of 79’s. Warning.

Ahsoka’s eyes widened a little in...confusion? Maybe a touch of fear? He’d certainly never made a noise like that in front of her before, but a part of him was reveling in it right now. A shadowy part of him that he’d always kept locked away. But it was emerging now as he recalled what had happened at 79’s. 

Although visibly startled, she continued truculently, ignoring the fire in his eyes. Danger.

“At 79’s tonight you acted like Fives had done something wrong. Like...like _I_ had done something wrong. That could have been you, do you know that? That’s what I was thinking of when he touched me, did you know that? _I wanted it to be you!_ ” She was crying openly now, her hands shaking and the tears winding their way down her cheeks. 

“But it wasn’t you. Because you lied to me. Because you turned me away and _lied to me_ , telling me you didn’t want me. So you know what? You don’t get to punch Fives in the face if he wants to kiss me.”

He could see it all so clearly, as if he were right back in that cantina watching it happen all over again. The offensive memories inundating him, the images assaulting him like a punch in the gut.

_Fives’ hand on her thigh inching his way up. Fives’ tongue on her throat. His fucking teeth on her throat._

The red was back in front of his eyes and the beast inside was roaring in earnest now, his eyes burning as they landed on the raised mark on her throat, _the imprint of Fives’ teeth_ as they’d pierced her soft skin there.

“You don’t get to decide who I kiss or who kisses me because you know what, Rex? _You had your chance_. You had your chance and you threw it away.”

_No._

_It_ **_wasn’t_ ** _going to end like this tonight!_

He lunged forward, no warning in speech or gesture, the monster inside fully unleashed as he smashed his lips into hers. Her mouth was already open, to further reprimand him for his behavior at 79’s he was sure, but he took advantage of it regardless and shoved his tongue into her mouth. 

_Gods this was so wrong, he knew it, but he needed her right now_. He needed her to allow him one more chance. Just one more fucking chance to prove he was worthy of her.

For a beat she was too stunned to react in any way, whether it be to slap him as he thought she might, or to kiss him back as he fervently hoped she would. Time stood still in that instant, his hopes all hanging on what she’d decide to do during that beat. 

She kissed him back.

Relief. _Absolute and euphoric relief_ flooded over him until he felt like he was drowning. She tasted like the tihaar she’d consumed. She tasted just as sweet as he remembered from last night. She parted her lips wider, finally accepting his kiss and beckoning him in further and if there was any restraint or hesitation left in him from before, it disintegrated now. He needed no further invitation. He kissed her with an almost unhinged passion. Fierce, commanding and primal, he conquered her mouth, desperation coursing through every vein, driving him on. 

That savage creature in his chest was snarling, screaming its need to claim her. To wash away Fives’ scent from her clothes. To clean his saliva from her throat. To sink his own teeth into her pulse point, _obliterating_ the mark that Fives had so foolishly placed there. He urgently needed to wipe away even the _insinuation_ of Fives from her body. To engrave his own name back onto her _where it fucking belonged_ so that no one **_ever_ **would think to so much as look at her in his presence. 

He was lost and the wild animal inside was ravenous and salivating for more.

His hands were clamped on her hips now, yanking her body hard against his as she gave a small sigh that he caught on his tongue, drinking it down and thirsting for more. He moaned into her own mouth, uncaring of how wrecked and tortured it sounded to his own ears. He backed her up one slow step at a time towards the bed, his mouth now moving to suck at her neck, intent to _destroy_ the imprint of Fives’ teeth with his own. He bit her, hard. _Really fucking hard_. Harder than he’d meant to, but then she shivered and _moaned_ , her warm breath gusting across his ear, and the beast inside bellowed its approval.

“Is this what you wanted, _mesh’la_?” he demanded, his voice a low rumble against her neck, his cheek nuzzling the mark he’d just left on her tender skin.

“Yes,” she panted. 

He sucked another mark into her skin, a little more harshly than he’d intended as her breathy answer shot straight to his groin. “Is this what you want _from me_?” he growled jealously into her skin. A part of him really needed to hear her say it. That she wanted this. That she wanted this from _him_ and not kriffing _Fives_ or anyone else. And that she wanted this _now_ , as urgently as he did.

“Kriff, Rex - yes! Only you. Only ever you…”

That was enough. His hands clenched her hips, fingers digging possessively into her skin.

His own breath was little more than a pant now, his heart feeling as though it were cracking his ribs with each thump of its beat in his chest. He hauled her body closer, letting her feel its frantic rhythm pound against her.

One more step and then another. 

Her knees connected with his mattress and she fell backwards, landing in a sitting position on the edge. He dropped to his knees clumsily, unwilling to suffer the loss of contact with her even for an instant. 

He was so hard right now, _so painfully hard_ , his cock twitching against his thigh. But he neglected it for now. This wasn’t about him. Not right now. This was all about her. About how close he could get to her, and what he could do for _her_.

His hands were moving now, up and down her sides, a little roughly maybe, but her own hands had met on the back of his neck, her fingers tracing the scrapes she’d left there last night and he stopped thinking about it. Stopped thinking about anything at all except his hands and her hands and how much he’d yearned to be in this position with her. 

That dangerous animal inside him was quieter now, waiting just behind a curtain to spring free but biding its time.

Emboldened by her reactions so far, his calloused palms tiptoed across her chest, his fingers tracing the cutout of her dress before dipping in to touch her cleavage. He felt her whimper against him, the sound causing his throbbing cock to pulse in need, and he dared to explore further, his thick fingers softly teasing their way in to feel her breasts against his bare skin. He pushed in further until one whole hand had made it through, the tips of his fingers brushing her nipples as he moved soothingly over her skin, the soft sounds blossoming from her lips begging him for more. 

His tongue had been idly caressing the bite mark he’d made, soothing the skin there as best he could, but now he was ready to move. He kissed his way across her collarbone over her dress, his tongue wetting the material as he went. He nipped her lightly as he moved further down and permitted himself a small smile against her skin as her heart rate increased. 

His hand retreated from her dress to clear the way for his tongue as it slid featherlight into the cutout to lick her cleavage. He savored the taste of her skin there and the whimper of pleasure that escaped her lips. His mouth ghosted along her chest, hot breath warming her skin under the fabric until he reached her raised nipple. A moan bursting from his own lips at the sight, he sucked it into his mouth and ran his tongue around it. One of her small hands landed on his head and tugged him closer. He sucked harder, wishing this karking fabric wasn’t in his way as he devoured her. One hand on her breast as his lips pleasured her there, his other made its way confidently further south. 

His heart was out of control, his breath held tight in his lungs and his cock leaking at the thought of what she might feel like. What she might _taste_ like. 

His fingertips grazed her knee and his whole body trembled, the sensation wrenching a groan from deep in his throat. He hesitated, his eager fingers whispering across the skin of her knee and just above, a light seductive caress just barely there, back and forth, waiting for her approval, alert for any sign that he should continue. His strong frame was shaking from holding back, from keeping the raging creature inside at bay. He wanted her so badly right now that it was a real and visceral ache. 

He looked up at her, his eyes searching her own, hoping against hope that what she saw was a confident man asking permission. Fearing that she might instead catch a glimpse of that monster at the gates, ready to leap out and take what it wanted if he lost control of it. 

The hand on her breast parted to slide sensuously up her neck, fingers brushing along every mark he’d made there before cradling her cheek. His thumb ran along her cheek, relishing in its silky softness on his rough skin. He scooted impossibly closer, raising his head to meet hers before tilting just a little to the side and leaning in to kiss her. His kiss was gentle, loving and all he hoped to communicate to her without words. Everything he was afraid to say. 

His other hand continued to plead with her for a sign to move upwards, his touch still light and delicate, but just a touch more insistent, _intentioned,_ awaiting her answer. 

Maker, he wanted to continue. _Please, please, want to continue_...

* * *

**_Ahsoka’s POV_ **

Ahsoka’s heart was a rampaging orbak inside of her chest. Her fuzzy head was clouded and groggy, thick with a haze of lust and alcohol. The only things she could really comprehend were Rex, his thumbs tracing small circles on the insides of her knees, and his eyes that were locked onto her, desperate and pleading. Asking, she knew. Imploring her with words that couldn’t seem to make their way off of his tongue. She swallowed thickly.

“What do you want, Captain?”

Still her voice came out soft and small, betraying the deeper meaning beneath her question. How much clearer could she possibly be? She’d bared herself to Rex in all the ways that mattered, had picked the lock on her heart and scattered the contents at his feet. What else was there for her to do?

She watched as his tongue darted out to lick his lips. Flashes of a thousand different things warred in his eyes and she had no idea which seemed to be the victor. For a second, she could have sworn she felt his hands tremble.

“Can I show you?”

Rex’s eyes were wide and vulnerable, his tone nothing but sincere. Hardly more than a moment ago he had been wild and untamed, moving at a pace that could only be rivaled by a fathier that had just been let out of the gate. Now it was all gone, replaced by something soft and yearning.

Ahsoka knew she shouldn’t let him. She knew she should say no. She should get up and leave. She was still angry with him, still hurt and confused and broken - all at his hand. Still, she couldn’t help herself; her body was rooted in place. She nodded.

She could practically feel the relief rolling off of him. It seemed to channel through his fingertips and seep into the spots where they lay against her bare skin. Rex kept his gaze locked firmly on hers as he cupped her knees and slowly slid her legs apart. Ahsoka could feel her chest heaving, her lips barely parted as she teetered at the edge of the cliff of anticipation. Bronze-tinted eyes bore into her own as Rex slid his hands around to the backs of her knees. Ahsoka couldn’t stifle the gasp that escaped her when he suddenly pulled her forward and sent her sliding flat onto her back. It wasn’t rough, she noted with a sense of intrigue - just unexpected. 

One of his hands slid across her thigh to cup her hip bone while the other hooked her leg over his shoulder. Rex’s eyes widened just a fraction. Ahsoka watched the cloud of lust pass over them, hinting at the storm that still raged somewhere deep within his bones. Vaguely, she was reminded of the fact that she was bare beneath her dress. Ahsoka’s already-hazy brain was sent careening into overdrive as if she were a battle droid trying to process too much information all at once. He was so close to her core - lips and hands and tongue - and that simple fact alone was enough to make her clench around nothing.

Rex released her from his gaze at last, only to turn his head to the side and place a soft kiss against the inside of her knee. Her eyelids fluttered closed and she sighed. All sense of rational thought abandoned her in that moment and she was left with only the faintest reminder that she did, in fact, still need to breathe. With tantalizing slowness, Rex began to trail tender kisses up the inside of her thigh. He was being so gentle with her, so unlike he’d been only moments before, and the dichotomy of the whole situation left her reeling. His lips were sweet and almost loving against her and yet her core throbbed mercilessly, rivaled only by the lingering sting at her neck.

Ahsoka’s eyes shot open. It occurred to her that she wasn’t sure _whose_ mark on her was the one that hovered like a shadow over her senses. She could still feel Fives’ teeth on her skin, could feel the cool bar top underneath her and his hands beneath her dress, cautious and respectful but still creeping ever slowly upward. Her brow markings drew together tightly. There was no part of her that wanted to be thinking of Fives when Rex’s head was between her legs.

She could feel his teeth there too, sinking in deeply around the mark she knew had probably already started to bloom even before they’d left 79’s. Rex’s mark felt different, possessive and predatory and _angry_ \- not at her but at… Fives, maybe? She couldn’t tell. The burn of Rex’s incisors piercing her skin had driven everything from her mind that wasn’t him in that moment. It was different, so different to have him feral and unhinged, seemingly determined to leave his mark on every bit of her neck he could possibly reach. The memory sent a shiver trembling up her spine. She had wanted it - wanted every bit of it and more even. She wanted Rex’s mark across her entire body. She wanted it in plain sight for everyone to see, so anyone who laid eyes on her would know that he had _ruined_ her in every possible way. She wanted them hidden, in soft and secret places no one else could see, a testament to the fact that _he_ was the only one to see them, to touch them, to have her bare those parts of herself to his eyes. She wanted all of it - proof, above all else, that he had been there. That he’d had her. That she was his, as they both already knew she was.

As though reading her thoughts, Rex grazed his teeth over the soft skin of her inner thigh. She moaned audibly, not even bothering to try and kill it before it left her throat. Rex responded by groaning open-mouthed against her, aching and desperate and oh, _Maker_ did it do terrible, amazing things to her to hear that sound. She wanted to hear it again and again, with his mouth against her montral and his cock buried inside of her. Just the thought of it sent electricity coursing through her veins, all of her nerve endings seeming to fire off at once. He was dangerously close to being exactly where she wanted him most and her body seemed to have absolutely no clue what to do about it.

And then slowly, ever so slowly, Ahsoka felt him shift before her. She could feel him brush against her. First the tip of his nose, careful and questioning - letting her know he was there, giving her the chance to ask him to pull away. She should. She knew she should. The ache inside her chest was overshadowed only by the one between her legs - and _kriff_ was that one persuasive.

He paused. Waiting, she knew. For her.

Words were a distant memory, long since departed from her leaden tongue. All that left her was a sigh - wistful, longing, _begging._ She didn’t know if she should ask him to continue. All she knew was that she didn’t want him to stop.

Rex seemed to understand.

And then there was his tongue, hot and firm as he purposefully drew it up the length of her center. She whimpered openly and sighed his name like a prayer. Though if she were being honest, _she_ felt like the deity - like Rex had come to worship at the altar between her thighs and who would she be to deny him such tribute? The sounds tumbling from her lips seemed to spur him on. He slid his hands up and around to cup her bare cheeks, supporting her against him as he pressed his tongue inside of her.

Ahsoka gasped, high pitched and wanton. Rex moaned into her and she felt the vibrations travel up from his throat straight to where they were joined. One of her hands flew down to grasp the back of his head and hold him there. She felt her fingers curl and her nails rake against his scalp. He shuddered and moaned again, long and low as his tongue began to work her quicker and with clear intention. Her brain felt like it was ricocheting off the walls of her skull. All she knew was Rex - his fingers that were going to leave hand-shaped bruises on her ass, his tongue that was working dark magic inside of her. Nothing in the galaxy existed outside of what was happening in the Captain’s quarters at that moment.

Ahsoka’s chest heaved with effort as her lungs worked frantically to suck in much-needed oxygen. Rex’s tongue slid upward to pass over that sensitive bundle of nerves and her entire body quaked. Ever the quick learner, Rex began to trace teasing circles around it. Stars flashed behind Ahsoka’s eyelids as they snapped closed again. She felt like she was on a runaway speeder, helpless to stop herself as she careened toward a rapidly approaching cliffside and prepared to topple over it entirely. Maker, she was so unbelievably _close_ …

She longed to reach for Rex within the Force, to twine their energies together and send him every bit of what she was feeling. Even in her mind, she trembled as she reached out. She could feel the frantic pulse of lust and passion, his desire that fed off of her own and ached to bring her to meet her end. She felt that behemoth of a beast gnashing and clawing inside of him, could practically _hear_ it roaring from where he kept it locked away. She wanted him to unleash it the way he’d started to when they were fighting, the way he almost had the night before when he’d-

She froze. She could feel it there, beneath the desire and the intensity and the urgency. Something cold, dark, locked away behind those walls of steel like it always was. The closer she got, the more she felt: possessiveness, anger, even a touch of arrogance - all those things he was fighting so hard to shove down in that moment. Between her montrals, a thousand different whispers seemed to pass through all at once.

_“This was wrong…”_

_“…whatever punishment you think is appropriate…”_

_“…in the middle of the_ kriffing _cantina…”_

And there, above all else, that one word that was intent on haunting her.

_“No.”_

Her body went numb. The fog cleared from her mind as though blown away by an icy cold wind. _What was she doing?_ Rex had made it clear - had made it perfectly, abundantly clear - that he didn’t want her. And then he’d made it clear that he _did._ But he’d hardly even apologized, hadn’t even seemed to understand _what_ he’d done so wrong in the first place. He had no inclination of how badly he’d wounded her, how his words and his rejection had cut through to her core like a vibroblade. No, he hadn’t even _tried_ to understand - he’d just reacted.

And she’d let him. She’d let him press his mouth to hers, had opened herself up to him and let him shove his tongue down her throat and - she felt heat blaze across her skin - _elsewhere._

Ahsoka felt like she could burst into tears.

“Rex.”

He hummed against her and Ahsoka had to choke back a sob.

_“Captain.”_

He paused. Slowly - like it physically pained him to do so - he extricated his mouth from her. She felt empty at the loss of contact, like something precious had been ripped from her that she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to get back. She slid backward on the bed and pulled the skirt of her dress down to cover herself. Rex sat back on his knees, imploring her with his eyes. She shut herself off from the Force instinctively, knowing that feeling any hint of him there would cause her to shatter. She hoped her voice sounded stronger than she felt. 

She knew it didn’t.

“You were right,” she nearly whispered. “This was wrong.”

Rex looked like she’d reached behind his armor, torn his paper heart from his chest and set it ablaze. She willed herself to meet his eyes even as she stood to stand beside the bed.

“I ca-“

The spider crack in her voice threatened to spread across the entire surface of her skin until she was nothing but fragments.

“I can’t do this with you.”

Rex’s mouth became a hard line. When he spoke, she didn’t need the Force to tell her he was using every trace of strength in his being to keep his voice steady.

“Is it Fives?”

Ahsoka could have laughed if she wasn’t worried the slightest movement would crumble her resolve. Some strange mixture - sadness, rage, disbelief - bubbled up inside of her and threatened to boil over.

“ _None of this_ is about Fives, Rex. It’s about you and me and… and whatever is happening here!”

The weak grasp she had on herself was rapidly slipping.

“I can’t keep doing this back and forth with you, Rex. You want me but you don’t, but you also don’t want anyone else to have me either. Oh, but then you _do_ want me again? Because… why? Because Fives made you jealous? Because you thought you might lose me? You want me to tell you that I only want you but you won’t-“

She paused and sucked in a sharp breath to steady herself.

“You’re not being honest with me, Rex. I don’t know what’s holding you back but I _do_ know that I have been nothing but honest with you since that stupid game last night. If that’s not enough for you, then I don’t know what is.”

He dropped his eyes from her, ashamed.

“Look at me when I’m speaking to you, Captain.”

Her voice had turned to steel. Rex snapped his gaze back to her in an instant.

“I _do_ want you. _Only_ you. Not Fives. Not _anyone_ else. _You._ ”

She blinked down at him for a moment. He looked so torn, so lost that she very nearly grabbed his face and kissed him just to drive her point home. She resisted and turned away, crossing to the door. It slid open at the wave of her hand and she paused in the doorway, only barely casting her eyes back over her shoulder.

“I suggest _you_ figure out what you want too, Captain. Before it’s too late.”

With that, she turned and made her way down the hallway as quickly as her legs could carry her. She barely heard the gentle _whoosh_ of the door sliding shut behind her, too focused was she on reminding herself that she had done the right thing.

She had. She knew she had.

But then why did it feel like such a mistake?

“Commander?”

Ahsoka raised her eyes just a second too late to stop herself from colliding with an armored chest. She nearly toppled backward onto the floor but two strong hands shot out and grabbed her around the upper arms, righting her before releasing their grip. She blinked up into a pair of familiar golden eyes, flecked with shades of brown.

“Dogma,” she breathed out and sent him what she hoped was something remotely resembling a smile. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention-“

“Commander,” he repeated, features set in a hard mask of concern. “Are you okay? Your neck…”

Her own eyes widened in realization as his dropped to her neck questioningly. Her cheeks burned and she raised a shaky hand to readjust her lek, covering as much of the bruising as she could.

“I’m fine,” she assured him. “It’s just… I…” she trailed off, fully aware of how ridiculous she sounded. “Training accident.”

Dogma’s posture stiffened just the slightest bit. He nodded firmly.

“Understood, Commander. Is there anything I can do?”

She shook her head and tried to offer another smile. “No, thank you. I just… I think I need to head back to the Temple, get some rest.”

“I can walk yo-“

“I’ll be fine, really.”

She could feel the tears pricking the backs of her eyes and knew she needed to leave, _now_. Whether or not Dogma noticed, he bid her good night and let her continue on her way. Ahsoka crossed her arms over her chest and silently begged herself to keep it together for just a little bit longer.

Of course she’d run into someone. Of course Dogma had noticed the marks on her neck - marks from Fives, from Rex, from every single indiscretion that had led her to this point. Wasn’t it only moments ago that she’d _wanted_ those marks seen? That she’d _wanted_ anyone and everyone to know that Rex had put them there, claiming her as his?

But they weren’t _only_ Rex’s marks. They were Fives’ too. And all they did now was serve to remind her that she’d done nothing but make one terrible, stupid mistake after another tonight.

_“How many of you has she spread her legs for, anyway?”_

Wave after wave of nausea rolled over her like an incoming tide. What was she doing? Why had she ever thought making Rex jealous would be a good plan? Why had she let him kiss her, let him put his hands - his _mouth_ \- on her when he couldn’t even come out and tell her whether or not he wanted her?

She knew why.

_“Only you.”_

As she stepped out of the bunkhouse door and descended the steps to the street, she let the tears flow freely. Without risking a backward glance, Ahsoka let the Coruscant night carry her back to the Temple, leaving Rex far behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it wrong to say we hope you're all as emotionally wrecked by this as we are?
> 
> Thank you all so, so much for reading! We absolutely adore hearing your thoughts and your support and feedback truly mean the world to us!
> 
> And admittedly, I (sushifish) was SO relieved to hear how many of you enjoyed the ending scene with Fives in chapter three! I had to down a glass of wine or three when I hit "post" on that chapter because I was so nervous about how it would be received. I'm so grateful for the positive comments and I hope you all loveeee how Ahmose007 took our favorite Captain to a darker place this chapter!


	5. The Whole Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well y'all, this chapter took a bit of a different turn than we expected. We had an idea of where we wanted to go and ended up getting there in a bit of a different way than we anticipated, so we really hope you enjoy it! This is the penultimate chapter of this fic, so all of our cards are out on the table here!
> 
> Also, we hope you enjoy the little nod to the sequels ;)
> 
> A quick translation guide for the Mando'a in this chapter:
> 
> shabuir - like "jerk" but much stronger; an extreme insult  
> adiik - a child between the ages of 3-13  
> osik - shit  
> dar'yaim - a hell; a place you desperately want to forget  
> Bes'uliilk - Basilisk war droid; literally, "iron beast"

**_Rex’s POV_ **

Rex let out a long, heavy sigh as he tossed himself backward on his cot. His armor-clad legs dangled over the edge and his hands flew upward to scrub across his face, like the action could somehow rid him of the hard-set frown lines that he was certain were permanently etched into his features by now.

He’d hightailed it back to his quarters on the _Resolute_ as quickly as was professionally acceptable following the mission briefing. The ship left minimal room for privacy, his own Captain’s quarters being abysmally small compared to his room in the bunkhouse, but it was the one place he knew for certain he wouldn’t have to worry about running into Ahsoka.

General Skywalker had sent the communication to them early that morning: They were to set off on a mission to the Arkanis System at 0700. It was a fairly simple supply drop for General Fisto’s squadron, something they could easily accomplish while their General was away, but there was always a certain degree of uncertainty surrounding ventures into the Outer Rim Territories.

Not to mention, Skywalker still being on Naboo meant Torrent Company was in the hands of his second-in-command.

Normally, that wouldn’t have been an issue in the slightest. Commander Tano was smart and strategic, an effective military leader who had built a profound rapport with her men. She could have led this mission in her sleep.

But it also meant that Rex was reporting directly to her.

And _that_ meant he couldn’t spend the entire flight cowering in his room with his figurative tail between his legs, like he very much wanted to do.

Instead he’d had to stand there next to the ship’s ramp - fully at attention with his bucket under his arm and every single member of Torrent Company lined up to his left - and watch emotionlessly as she strode past him and boarded the ship without sparing him so much as a second glance. He’d had to stand across from her in the ship’s small conference room, forcing himself to listen with rapt attention as she recounted the details of their plan so that he could ensure his men had been fully briefed. He’d had to swallow down the bile that rose in his throat at her cool, unyielding tone.

He’d had to remind himself to breathe when he noticed how she’d positioned the neckline of her battledress a bit higher than normal, how she kept adjusting her lekku to ensure they covered as much of her throat as they possibly could.

He’d had to stop himself from reaching out to brush his fingers against her arm as she breezed past him like a ghost, as if he wasn’t even there.

His fragile heart clenched and ached beneath the armor of his sternum. Ahsoka wasn’t looking at him like he was something to be thrown in the trash compactor. She wasn’t looking at him with contempt, or malice, or even the gut-wrenching hurt she’d displayed the night before.

She wasn’t looking at him at all.

That simple fact was a vibroblade to his gut, one that twisted ever so slowly to ensure he could feel every bit of damage it did, every piece of flesh and sinew that seared and tore at the onslaught. He was certain an actual vibroblade would have hurt less.

And so here he was, hiding in his shoebox of a room, trying to will himself to stitch his pieces back together.

But how could he when Ahsoka held the thread?

Her words burned in his memory like a branding iron searing through his skull. Her face - open, vulnerable, pleading and _broken_ \- flashed in his mind’s eye every time he dared to close his eyes.

_“You were right…”_

He wasn’t.

He had never been so completely, viscerally wrong about anything in the entirety of his short life. Sure, he’d thought he was doing the right thing, had been so _convinced_ of it. But in his blind dedication to protecting Ahsoka - from _him_ , from his inappropriate, uncontrollable desire to have her in every possible way - he had ended up hurting her more than anyone likely ever had.

In an effort to protect her from the beast _inside_ of him, he’d been too blind to notice the beast _becoming_ him.

Maybe, he realized belatedly, it always had been.

That was why he didn’t deserve her. He’d become undisciplined, drunk on his lust and the high of how she made him feel. He’d allowed himself to toe too close to the raging fire that she was, had let himself give in to the gravitational pull of her orbit.

Because he wanted her. More than anything else, he _wanted_ her. Body, soul, every speck of stardust that had combined in beautiful harmony to create this strong, amazing person he lo-

If he could have held a blaster to the side of that thought’s head, he would have pulled the trigger without a moment’s hesitation. That was territory into which he would not - _could not_ \- tread.

He kept those feelings safe behind the walls of his mind, where they couldn’t stretch out their lecherous fingers and wrap around his throat - or worse, reach out and touch Ahsoka. She could _never_ know how deep his reverence ran, how unquestioning his devotion had become. He would snap off his fingers with his own teeth if she asked it of him, let her carve her name into the skin of his chest if she wanted. He would douse himself in starship fuel and drop a torch at his feet without a moment’s hesitation if it meant the flames would warm her against everything that was dark and cold and dared to try and touch her.

And these were things she could never, _ever_ know.

She’d said she wanted him - _only him_ \- but Rex knew, somewhere deep in his bones, that it wasn’t the same. It couldn’t be.

Ahsoka was good. She was beautiful inside and out, caring, selfless, pure and tender-hearted and all of the things he could never even hope to be. She was his brightest star - the only light in the darkness of the galaxy’s never-ending war. She was the best piece of him. Sometimes, she was the only piece that seemed to matter at all.

She deserved so much better than him.

She deserved to be touched by hands that weren’t stained with the blood of war, to be looked upon with eyes that didn’t flash dark and angry with the unyielding desire to _claim her_. She was worth so much more than anything he could ever hope to give her - a half life, an abridged future cut short by accelerated aging, a mind that carried the weight of all he’d seen and done.

_She deserved so much better than him._

The sharp _buzz_ of his door yanked him from his thoughts. Rex swallowed back a groan as he slid off the bed and made his way over, pressing the button and letting the durasteel slide away.

His eyebrows rose practically to his hairline. “Dogma?”

His brother’s face was set in an even harder mask than usual. “Captain. Permission to enter, sir?”

Rex nodded his consent and stepped out of the way, letting the door slide shut as Dogma came to stand fully in the center of the small room.

“What can I help you with, Trooper?”

Dogma swallowed hard. “It’s about the Commander, sir.”

Rex had to fight to keep his eyes from blowing wide as the trap door beneath his stomach fell out and sent it plummeting to his feet.

“What about the Commander?”

Dogma shifted his weight ever so slightly from one foot to the other. Rex didn’t think he’d ever seen his vod look so concerned before.

“I’m worried someone’s hurt her, sir. I ran into her - literally - last night when she was leaving the bunkhouse and she looked awful. She had these giant bruises on her neck, like someone had…”

He trailed off but Rex didn’t miss the way his fingers flexed and clenched, betraying the words he didn’t say.

“I see,” Rex nodded in mock-thoughtfulness. A wave of guilt came crashing over him at Dogma’s concern over something _he_ had done to Ahsoka. He could only hope it wasn’t written all over his face. “Did you ask the Commander about this?”

“I did. She said it was a training accident.”

He fixed Rex with a pointed, knowing look and Rex understood the implication immediately. “Training accident” was, as they all well-knew, the universal clone code for “none of your kriffing business.”

“I see,” he said again, hoping it didn’t sound as stupid coming out of his mouth a second time as he was afraid it did. “Well, if the Commander isn’t willing to discuss it then unfortunately there isn’t much to be done from an official standpoint. If you really think there’s something else going on, I’m happy to discuss it with the Commander in private.”

 _A lie._ A bold-faced, blatant, paper thin lie.

But it had the desired effect. A shadow of relief passed over Dogma’s features and he gave Rex a nod. “Thank you, Captain. I just want to make sure the Commander is okay.”

The trooper may as well have reached into Rex’s armor, punched a hole in his chest and squeezed the life out of his bleeding heart.

Blissfully unaware and seemingly satisfied, Dogma turned and stepped back out into the hallway, leaving Rex to deflate like a balloon the moment the door slid shut again. He was a terrible liar; he knew that about himself. And he _hated_ lying to his _vod’ika_. It sent fresh bursts of guilt spreading like wildfire under his skin. He was just about to throw himself back onto his cot and let the cold hands of despair drag him under for the remainder of the flight when his door buzzed again.

He didn’t bother trying to swallow down his groan this time.

“Dogma, I told you I’ll talk to-“

He froze as the durasteel slid aside, revealing the absolute _last_ face he wanted to see. Rex’s eyes turned hard as kyber as they took in that close-cropped goatee, the Aurebesh number five, and finally the familiar golden eyes that were staring back into his own.

“Permission to enter, Captain?”

* * *

**_Fives’ POV_ **

Captain Rex looked momentarily surprised, as if he’d opened his door and found General Grievous himself standing there with a plate of _uj_ cake balancing on each arm. It would have been comical if Fives wasn’t acutely aware of the fact that the Captain was using every spare drop of self-control in his body to keep from knocking his teeth out one by one.

Rex set his jaw as his brows knit together in determination. He reached down and pressed the button to his door.

“Denied, Trooper.”

Rex turned back toward his room as the door began to slide shut, but Fives reached out his hand and stopped it. It gave a series of protesting beeps and Rex whirled back around, looking for all the galaxy like he wanted to reach forward and wrench the door shut, snapping Fives’ fingers off as he did so.

“I think we need to talk about Ahso-“

Rex reached forward so quickly that Fives barely registered the movement before he was being roughly pulled inside the Captain’s quarters by the neck of his armor. He stumbled against the tiny wooden desk and heard the door slide shut behind him.

 _“Not in the hallway,”_ Rex seethed through gritted teeth. “Not where anyone can hear you.”

Fives straightened and brushed non-existent dust from the front of his armor.

“Fair enough.”

He regarded the Captain for a moment. Rex looked more exhausted than Fives could ever recall having seen him - a bone-deep sort of tired that all of the sleep in the galaxy couldn’t fix. There were deep lines carved into his forehead, a firm downward tug at the corners of his mouth, and his eyes… his eyes were startlingly, gut-wrenchingly empty.

“Say what you came to say, Trooper; I’m really not in the mood.”

Fives felt his head tip slightly to the side. He’d expected Rex to yell at him - hell, he’d half-expected the Captain to deck him on sight. But this… there was something different about him now. His shoulders sagged, his voice held no edge. He seemed so tired, so defeated.

_Broken._

This was much worse than Fives had anticipated. Much worse than even the most vehement rage.

“About what happened last night-“

Rex’s eyes flashed with something wild and primal, an unbridled disdain that almost made Fives recoil in surprise at both the intensity of it and at the stark change from his previous demeanor.

“If you’re going to apologize, save it,” he snapped venomously. “I don’t want it and I don’t care.”

“I wasn’t.”

He would have smirked at the way Rex’s eyebrows flew up in surprise if the circumstances had been different.

“I think you need to know that 79’s was my idea. I told Kix to get you there and Echo and I would bring Ahsoka-“

Rex’s eyes narrowed. “She told us _she_ invited _you_.”

Another smirk died halfway to his lips. They’d told her to give him hell and she certainly had delivered. He was both proud at how his plan had succeeded and overcome with terrible, visceral guilt.

“She lied. We didn’t even tell her the plan until we got there - which was, as you can probably guess, to make you jealous.”

Rex rolled his eyes and mumbled something that sounded dangerously close to, _well mission-fucking-accomplished._

“It was supposed to be harmless,” he pressed on. "Just a little flirting, enough to get a rise out of you. And it was working until that _shabuir_ got involved.”

He spat the word out with nothing but contempt, hating the way the reminder tasted on his tongue. Across from him, Rex’s eyes darkened into something unrecognizable.

“What did he do to her?” His voice was a growl, low and menacing when it rose from the depths of his chest.

Fives told him. He recounted, word for word, what that foul piece of bantha shit had said to Ahsoka - how he’d made her feel, how small her voice had sounded when she’d asked him if they all really thought that way of her. He watched as the emotions washed over him, wave after wave. First the pure, untempered rage. Like a caged animal finally being set free after entirely too long in captivity, Fives was certain Rex would tear the entire room apart, and him with it.

And then there was the protectiveness, that fierce and ever-present need to place himself between Ahsoka and the threat, to let anything and anyone know that if they wanted to get to her, they would have to go through him first. Fives pitied the poor soul who dared to try.

Guilt came next, thick and heavy and carrying so much else with it. Rex didn’t need to speak the words aloud for Fives to know that he was thinking them. He could see the letters etched into the lines of his face, painted in the irises of his eyes, woven into the very fabric of his skin.

_I should have been there._

Fives wished he could refute it. He wished he had the words to say to ease his brother’s guilty conscience, but there were none. Because Rex was right; he _should_ have been there. It should have been him protecting Ahsoka, comforting her, reminding her how worthy she was - not Fives.

As if he knew that Fives could practically read his thoughts, Rex said, “She didn’t want me there. _You said_ she didn’t want me there.”

Fives blinked for a moment, entirely taken aback by how small and distant the Captain’s voice sounded. It was unnerving to see him like this, so unlike himself.

“Yeah…” Fives drawled out, long and slow. He had the decency to look ashamed. “Also a lie.”

Rex shot him a glare and Fives sighed.

“Vod, I think we both know that there will probably never come a day when the Commander doesn’t want you. Unless you keep acting like an absolute kriffing di’kut.”

Shock passed over Rex’s face for just a heartbeat before it settled back into simmering anger.

“Watch yourself, Trooper,” he ground out warningly.

Fives was undeterred. “Maybe watch _your_ self, Captain. Someone has to tell you what’s right in front of your bucket because you clearly can’t see it for yourself. You have this woman - this funny, gorgeous, wildly intelligent woman - who could have _anyone_ in the karking galaxy that she wanted. But she picked _you_ and yet you’re doing everything you can to fuck it up at every possible opportunity.”

“You shouldn’t talk about things you don’t understand, _Fives,_ ” Rex hissed at him, spitting out his name like spoiled blue milk.

“I understand exactly as much as I need to, _Captain_. I don’t think you can give me a single decent reason for not going to her and staking your claim on her right this minute.”

“Besides the fact that you’re in my quarters, scolding me like an _adiik_?” The look Rex was giving him could have turned him straight to stone if Fives hadn’t already been sending an equally withering glare right back at him. “She’s my commanding officer, for one.”

“Bantha _osik._ Find me a single man in the 501st who would dare report it - _including_ General Skywalker.”

Rex’s hands were tight fists at his sides. His shoulders shook - with anger, with the truth of Fives’ words… there was no way for him to know. He could tell he was getting to the Captain, that he was pushing him further than sound logic would likely have advised, but still he continued. Rex _needed_ to hear what he had to say.

“The only person here who doesn’t want this to work out for you is _you,_ Captain.”

Rex verbally pounced on him. “Is _that_ what you think? You think I don’t _want_ her, Fives? How could I not? She’s _everything_. Everything I-“

“I know that, Captain,” Fives softened his voice just the slightest bit. He was _so close_ to getting the Captain to admit his feelings, to just be _krfiffing honest_ with himself. “It’s Ahsoka who isn’t so sure. And how could she be when you’re using every chance you get to tell her the exact opposite?”

Rex visibly winced at his words.

“I know I…” For a moment Fives thought he had him, that the Captain was finally going to say what they both knew he needed to. But then Rex swallowed hard and set his jaw, spine straightening to that perfect militaristic rigidity. “It’s better this way.”

Fives’ resolve was wearing dangerously thin.

“Like hell it is, vod! You’re fucking miserable. You sit around looking at her like all you want to do is fall down at her feet and yet you _still_ keep pushing her away. You punched me - your own _vod’ika_ \- in the jaw for barely even touching her-“

“Barely touching!?” Rex closed the short gap between them so quickly that Fives didn’t even realize it was happening until their chest pieces were nearly touching. “You put your _teeth_ on her, Fives! Marked her like some sort of animal!”

Fives kept a steady hold on himself even as his bruised jaw faintly throbbed at the reminder. “And what would you have done if it had been someone else? Someone other than me who _actually_ wanted something from her? You’re just gonna go around sucker punching any guy who shows her some attention? How long do you think she’d let you keep that up for, Captain - This weird _dar’yaim_ where you’re telling her you don’t want her but also showing her that you don’t want anyone else to have her either? How long until you lose her - not just as whatever you’re calling this thing between you two, but as your friend, too?”

Rex took a step back from him, his eyes wide.

“I-“ he paused and licked his lips, seemingly at a loss. “It’s… maybe it would be better that way, too.”

Fives nearly blanched. “Is that what you want, vod?”

“Of course not!”

The ugly _Bes’uliik_ that seemed to be wearing Rex’s skin reared its head once again. Behind it - or maybe inside of it - Rex shattered.

“What do you want me to do, Fives!? What can I offer her? A handful of years after a war that I might not even survive? Should I expect her to wipe my shebs for me when I’m too old to do it myself, too? When she’s still young and beautiful and full of _life_ and I’m nothing but a broken down battle droid for the Republic?”

Rex was full-on yelling at him now and it felt to Fives like every single doubt, every drop of hatred and self-loathing and insecurity that coursed through his blood day in and day out had suddenly been set to flame.

“I can’t give her happiness. I can’t give her a family, a home, a _life_. All I know is war! I can’t hold her children with hands that have squeezed the life out of someone’s eyes. And why would she want me to? I ca- …I can’t.”

Fives watched as Rex’s eyes rose to meet his. His voice lowered startlingly, hardly more than a strained choke.

“I have nothing to give her, Fives. _I’m_ nothing.”

For a moment Fives could do nothing but stand there, frozen with his gaze glued to his brother. He looked so devastated, so completely and utterly broken, and Fives realized that this was the first really, truly _honest_ thing Rex had said since Fives had come to his room.

And yet it was still a lie.

Fives’ arms shot out suddenly, one hand landing on Rex’s shoulder as the other closed around his neck and he pulled his brother into him. He could have sworn he heard Rex let out something akin to a sob when he pressed their foreheads together.

_Kov’nyn._

“Brother,” Fives said simply. “Don’t _ever_ let me hear you say that again.”

Rex made a noise of disagreement but Fives cut him off before he could say anything.

“When has Ahsoka ever made you feel like you were anything less than whole?”

The answer was thick, resounding silence.

“And has she ever - even once - indicated that she wanted anything more than what you could give her?”

Silence.

A smile crept its way onto Fives’ face. He pulled back a fraction, just enough to be able to look Rex in the eyes.

“Then why in the name of General Grievous’ unholy metal asshole are you letting her slip away?”

Fives waited. It felt like he was holding his breath for a long moment, waiting as Rex’s eyes searched his for something unidentifiable. Finally Rex’s hand closed around Fives’ wrist, his fingers tightening in a way that somehow wordlessly told his brother a million different things all at once.

“I don’t know if I can.”

“You can,” Fives assured him. “You love her, vod. We both know it. The whole damn 501st knows it. You’ve got to let her know before it’s too late to matter anymore.”

Rex’s eyes widened in surprise. Fives watched as they flashed with realization - with _fear_ \- with the knowledge of just how close to losing Ahsoka he really was.

“I know. I…” He swallowed hard and took a step back from Fives, face settling into that familiar mask of determination. When he spoke again, his voice was steady. “I know.”

For the first time in what felt like ages, Fives believed him.

He could see the storm churning in Rex’s eyes, could see that steadfast resolve returning. _This_ was the Captain he knew. _This_ was the Rex who knew what he needed to do and marched toward it fearlessly - or, more accurately, _in spite of_ his fear.

Fives placed a hand on Rex’s shoulder and Rex returned the gesture in kind. They stood that way for a moment, neither needing to say anything as an unspoken understanding passed between them, before parting wordlessly. As he stepped back out into the hallway, Fives was confident the Captain knew what he needed to do.

He just hoped he’d have the strength to do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Rex. What do we think? Does he have what it takes to step up and tell Ahsoka how he really feels? Or is he going to lose her forever?
> 
> Thank you all so, so very much for reading. Ahmose007 and I (sushifish) both fangirl SO hard over all of your kudos, subscribes and sweet comments. We seriously cannot thank you all enough for all of the support you've shown us throughout this entire story so far and we cannot WAIT to hear what you think now that we're nearing the end...


	6. Intentionally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy. We're here, y'all: the final chapter. Here's to hoping our little babies can get their acts together and finally be honest with each other!
> 
> A translation guide for the Mando'a in this chapter:  
> haav. ji. - bed. now.  
> k'olar! - come here! get over here at once!  
> gedet'ye - please  
> me'copaani? - what do you want? / what would you like?  
> Alor'ad - Captain  
> mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an - we are one when together, we are one when parted, we will share all; part of the Mandalorian marriage vows  
> ni kar'tayl gar darasuum - I love you  
> ganar ni - take me/have me; literally, "possess me"  
> cyar'ika - beloved, sweetheart  
> mesh'la - beautiful

_**** _

* * *

_**Rex’s POV** _

He felt adrenaline coursing through his veins now, determined and intentioned. _Infallible_. 

His face set with resolve, his eyes shining with purpose, he strode from his quarters to seek out Ahsoka. There was no room in his body for doubt, no space for anything less than the absolute and unwavering _decision_ to tell her the truth. To apologize to her honestly, to tell her what he should have confessed so long ago, and to hand her his heart to do with as she pleased while daring to hope for hers in return. To allow himself to be bare before her and accept her judgement, knowing he was unworthy but hoping against all odds that it would be enough. 

Hoping that he would be enough.

He searched the _Resolute_ methodically. He thought it most likely she’d be in her own quarters, so he marched there first. He knocked and received no answer, he tried once more.“Ahsoka, it’s me, Rex. If you’re in there, please open up. I- I need to talk to you. _Please_.”

No answer and no movement disturbed his hearing and he was eventually convinced that she wasn’t inside. He couldn’t be sure though. It was possible that she _was_ in there and just didn’t want to open the door for him. And he would deserve that. He deserved that and more. 

He sighed and turned away, heading down the hall towards the mess. He could always try her room again later, but now that their mission had concluded, they would be landing in Coruscant soon and it made more sense right now to cover all available areas rather than just sitting in front of her door like a di’kut.

He poked his head into the mess, but all he found there was a sea of golden eyes and tanned skin, most still in full kit, chatting animatedly and eating their rations. A few turned their heads in his direction and a couple even waved him over genially, but he ignored them all. There was no room in his mind right now for anything other than tracking down Ahsoka and doing it quickly.

He ducked out of the doorway and rounded the corner in haste, heading now for the common area.

“Attention: We will be touching down in Coruscant in 5 minutes. Please proceed to your stations and prepare for landing.”

He sped up, now jogging down the corridor to the common room. More than a few heads turned to watch his progress. He was sure he was making a bit of a scene. Captain Rex was legendary for being stoic, calm and controlled, and here he was jogging down what felt like every corridor on this whole karking ship, sweating more than a little and his eyes darting around restlessly, searching everywhere. 

He checked inside the common room. His mouth curved further down into a thoughtful frown. No Ahsoka here either, only more brothers finishing up their sabbac game or powering down their data pads before heading to their respective stations. 

Okay. So she wasn’t in her quarters, the mess or the common area. Then it hit him. He’d been so dense! She was the Commander. She’d likely be on the bridge.

He headed that way, only the smallest hitch in his step as he imagined having this conversation there. Sure it wouldn’t be ideal, but if that’s what he needed to do right now, then it was fine with him. The thought of losing her was too much. He pushed even the shadow of that thought from his mind. He _wasn’t_ going to lose her.

_Not this time. Not ever again._

“Attention: We are now beginning our descent into Coruscant. Please ensure that you are at your stations for landing.”

**_No!_ **

His jog turned into a full run. More and more golden eyes followed his progress with interest now. He didn’t spare them so much as a backwards glance. He didn’t care. 

_Let them watch. Let them talk. It’s not important. Not anymore._

He reached the door to the bridge, clutching a stitch in his side but elated to have reached his destination before they actually touched down. He had just lifted his hand to punch in the entrance code when it opened for him and he found himself face to face with Ahsoka. 

Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw him there, probably looking frazzled and in complete disarray, but they quickly narrowed and her features rearranged themselves into a glower. Still, he was sure he’d never seen anything so incredible and beautiful in his life as her standing there in front of him. Those big blue eyes with those long eyelashes that could see into his soul. Those azure irises that were now looking straight through him as though he wasn’t even there. Like he wasn’t worth her time anymore.

 _Like he’d lost her already_.

His panic at the thought immediately goaded him to speak, “Ahsoka, can we talk? About everything?”

Her frown was still there, her eyes still distant, but he could see a glimmer of _something_ behind them now. It looked a lot like hope. At least, he _hoped_ that’s what it was.

“Please, Ahsoka,” his voice was hoarse but rich and deep with sentiment as he pleaded with her. “ _Please,_ let me- “

She fixed her glare on him in earnest now, “Why should I, _Captain_?”

“Ahsoka, I’m sorry. I really am. More than anything. So, so sorry that I-"

“Not good enough, Captain. That’s _not good enough_ anymore. _Sorry_ isn’t going to fix this. So if that’s all you have to say…” She brushed past him, her shoulder lightly but firmly knocking his as she cleaved a path right through him towards the exit ramp. Cleaved a path right through his open and vulnerable heart. 

“ _Ahsoka, please!_ ** _Please_** _don’t do this!_ ” he shouted at her retreating back, his voice raw, wild and desperate, as he put everything he had behind those words. More than a few heads were directed at him now as he lost control so spectacularly. But he barely saw them. They were no more than a blur around Ahsoka as she moved away. 

He realized it was because his eyes were holding back tears. He could feel them now in front of his irises, an overflowing dam cracked and damaged and ready to burst. 

She had slowed her pace, but she was still moving steadily away. _She had slowed her pace_. Maybe she was giving him the most nanoscopic chance…

“Ahsoka...you were right. About everything.” His voice was quiet but steady, overflowing with his sincerity, his truthfulness and somehow it carried effortlessly through the yawning chasm that separated her from him and he was certain she heard him. “I need to say that I’m sorry, that I was a complete di’kut, because I was. Because I am. But you’re right; it’s not enough. It’s not even _close_ to enough. And that’s why that isn’t all that I need to say to you. _Please,_ Ahsoka.” 

One tear fell unashamedly down his haggard cheek, catching on the stubble he’d let grow there over the past couple of days. 

She stopped.

As the tear fell and some of the haze lifted, he noticed the whole of Torrent Company was watching him now. A crowd filled with impossibly wide golden eyes all darting between him and Ahsoka, undoubtedly shocked but keen to see what would happen next. Several had their mouths gaping open. 

He barely registered any of it. His gaze never left her back. He focused all of his energy into willing her turn around and give him a chance. He wanted her to reach out with the Force and know that he was ready now. Ready to give her everything he had, if she only wanted it. He was here, now, completely exposed and defenseless for her to do with as she wished.

He felt the ship touch down, but no one moved. All eyes, _except the only ones he cared about right now_ , were trained on him. 

_Please, Ahsoka, please. Just give me a chance to tell you how I feel..._

The exit ramp began to lower and still no one moved. No one spoke. The beating of his heart was deafening in his ears as he waited for her to respond. Then it hit him. She wasn’t moving, and she wasn’t stopping him. She _was_ giving him the chance. Right here and now and in front of everyone, but she _was_ giving him a chance to persuade her.

He took it.

“Ahsoka, I love you.” 

The other tear fell and the silence was so heavy he could hear it splash at his feet. He watched her stiffen just a fraction, her head lilting just the tiniest bit to the side as if she heard it too. His throat was burning, his vocal cords cracked and maimed, but he tore them further without pause, “I should have told you a long time ago how much you mean to me. I should have done a lot of things.” 

She turned her head a little more. 

“I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I’m sure I’ll continue to make mistakes. But I can promise you I’ve learned from the ones I’ve made and I won’t make those again. Ever.” Her body twisted a bit in his direction and he heard some slight murmuring among the assemblage. He tuned it all out; it wasn’t important. None of it was important except Ahsoka.

“Look, I know I can be a complete di’kut.” He forced himself to ignore the audible laughter at that. “I know I don’t deserve you. You deserve someone better, someone who can give you all the things I can’t. A real home, a family, _a kriffing_ _life_. I don’t have anything to offer but myself and I know I’m not worthy. But I realized something: It’s not for me to say what’s good for you. It’s not for me to tell you what you want. It’s not my decision at all. It’s yours.” 

Her body swiveled fully in his direction. She faced him now and he could see she had tears in her eyes too. He fought the urge to run to her, to smash through the void that separated her from him and close the distance between them, to hold her, and kiss all of those tears away. Torrent Company was silent, not even the squeak of plastoid moving.

“Ahsoka, I was so wrong. It’s no excuse but I was afraid. To be honest, I’m still afraid. _Terrified_ actually. But what I’m afraid of is losing you, _and that’s something I can’t take_. Whatever comes from this, I’m ready for it. I’ll face it, afraid or not, if you’ll give me the chance.”

She contemplated him as one of the tears jumped from her eyelashes and cascaded down her cheek. He wanted so badly to catch it on his thumb and brush it gently from her smooth and perfect skin.

“Ahsoka, I love you,” he croaked, his abused throat protesting any further speech. His eyes had fully captured hers now and he was _not_ letting them go. “I love you and if you want me and all my mistakes, all my flaws, and all my scars, then I’m yours.” 

She hadn’t moved. 

He dropped his head, not wishing to see her carve out his heart and detonate it. Indistinct noises of chatter were breaking out around him but he paid them no heed. This was her decision to make. He'd laid it all out there; his heart and his soul battered but still beating only for her, on full display in his open and supplicating palms, and he wouldn't take them back, wouldn't hide them away again. _Not for the entire galaxy._ So here they remained, pulsing and bloody and imperfect, an offering for her to either accept or reject. The choice was hers now.

_He hoped he was enough._

* * *

**_Ahsoka’s POV_ **

Ahsoka was frozen.

Any control she had over her body was gone. Her limbs were glued in place, keeping her from moving - toward Rex, away from him, anywhere at all. Her tongue had turned to durasteel inside her mouth. All sense of rational thought had abandoned her. The only thing she knew with any certainty was that her heart was getting dangerously close to beating out of her chest entirely.

That, and the fact that Rex was standing in front of her with his heart in his hands and the whole of Torrent Company at his back - waiting for her.

Ahsoka could feel that her lips were parted in surprise and she forced them closed, the simple action seeming to take all the strength left in her body. Rex was staring at her imploringly, his desperate eyes searing twin holes straight through her skull. She knew she needed to say something - _anything_ \- in response to the planet-stopping declaration he’d just made. With great effort, she managed to unstick her iron tongue from the roof of her mouth.

“Rex, I-“

“Commander Tano,” Master Windu’s fractured voice from her comm unit cut her off. “Please report to the council chambers for debriefing.”

Her eyes were still locked on Rex. He looked so open, so completely vulnerable and the shock of it hit her harder than anything she’d ever seen on the battlefield. She could see the tear stains on his bronze-toned cheeks. He was pleading with her, _begging_ her not to go.

“I…” she tried again and once more her traitorous voice betrayed her.

“Commander, do you copy?”

Ahsoka drew in a sharp breath as she raised her wrist to reply. She had no choice. “On my way, Master.”

A handful of meters away from her, Rex looked like she’d knocked his heart from his hands and sent it clattering across the hangar floor, broken shards scattering at her feet.

“I’m sorry,” she breathed, unable to will any other words to leave her. She hoped he heard. She hoped he understood.

It nearly took an act of the Senate for her to wrench her eyes away from his, to will her leaden feet to move. The look on his face was branded on the iron of her mind, white hot and still searing at the edges. Rex had laid himself so bare before her that he may as well have shed his armor and stood naked in the center of the hangar. And he’d done it in front of _everyone_.

Ahsoka had wanted him to be honest. She’d wanted him to just make a decision one way or the other, to be upfront about his intentions and whether or not he wanted her the same way she wanted him. She had _not_ expected a post-mission confession of love surrounded by a very large chunk of the 501st. She paused when she reached the doors to the Council chambers.

Rex had said he loved her.

Her legs itched to carry her back toward the Resolute, back to Rex and where she knew he would be running through post-mission protocol, red-faced and forced to dodge Maker-only-knew how many questions and inquiring stares. What she didn’t know was what exactly she would have done even if she could have turned tail and run back to him. Would she have leapt into his arms and pressed her lips to his, letting him know she felt the same? No, that certainly didn’t feel right. What she really felt like doing was asking him what in the kriffing hell had made him abandon all sense of propriety and virtually shout his affections into the rafters.

Ahsoka could feel a headache blooming behind her eyes. She had no clue what she was going to do about Rex but she knew that she had no more time to contemplate it now. Heaving in a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and made her way into the Council chambers.

Mercifully, the debriefing session was a painless and relatively quick affair, given that their mission had been a simple supply drop and had gone off without anything remotely resembling a hitch. Afterward, Ahsoka made her way back to the safety of her quarters. She needed time to think, needed to be some place where she knew she wouldn’t have to worry about inadvertently running into anyone.

Once she was safely inside, she let the door slide shut behind her and pressed her back against it. She leaned all of her weight against the thick, cool durasteel and let herself slide to the floor, exhausted.

This was what she’d wanted, wasn’t it? She’d asked for honesty and Rex had given it to her, albeit in the eleventh hour. Ahsoka couldn’t help but wonder what had changed to make him be so suddenly open with his feelings, with his intentions. Still, it was exactly what she’d asked of him - though, admittedly, she would have greatly preferred for it to have been a more private affair. Not that it would have done her much good; she would have bet her life that Fives would have found out somehow and Maker knew his mouth wasn’t exactly where secrets went to live and die. Regardless, she’d gotten the honesty she sought. So why did she still feel like there was something between them that was keeping them from reaching out and taking what they both said they wanted?

Ahsoka dropped her head and pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes as she let her mind comb through Rex’s words.

He’d apologized first and foremost, had confessed to acting like a veritable idiot. He’d acknowledge that he’d made mistakes. He’d owned them, hadn’t tried to minimize or push them away. That wasn’t the issue, she knew. There was something else, something more.

He’d said he loved her. He’d told her he was hers. Her heartbeat quickened at the memory, the sound of his words in her montrals, the raw emotion plain in his eyes. No, that wasn’t the problem either. Not even close.

Then what was? What else had he said that could possibly-

Ahsoka’s head snapped up and she gasped audibly.

_“I know I don’t deserve you…”_

She could feel her eyes widening as the realization set in - slowly at first, like the tide coming in to gradually kiss the shore.

_“I don’t have anything to offer…”_

And then all at once, the waves lapping at her skin until she was covered completely. The tears welling at the backs of her eyes might as well have been daggers pressing their sharp points against her nerves.

_“I know I’m not worthy…”_

One hand flew to cover her mouth that was hanging open. She’d heard the words when he’d said them but it was only now that she was able to see how all of the seemingly mismatched pieces fit together. The issue had never been her. It had never been a question of whether or not Rex wanted her. It had always just been _this_ , these bone-deep insecurities, the constant whispers in his head telling him that he wasn’t good enough, that she deserved more. Ahsoka could have laughed at the absurdity if it wasn’t a well-placed stone thrown at her glass heart.

She would never be able to understand how Rex could see himself as anything less than exactly what he was to her: everything.

Ahsoka leapt to her feet and chanced a glance at the holochron on her desk. Rex would be done with his post-mission duties by now, which meant that he would likely be…

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she spun on her heel and strode from the room. She marched intentionally through the Temple hallway, down the front steps and out of the gate. It took everything in her not to break out into a sprint once her feet hit the pavement. She’d made this very same walk a hundred times before but somehow this time was decidedly different. She felt both heavy and light, weightless at the loss of the burden she’d been carrying and yet anchored by the significance of what was before her.

She crested the steps and paused in front of the bunkhouse door, taking a deep breath before punching in her access code. She breezed through the hallway, past the common area and the mess hall, ignoring the handful of greetings called out to her as she passed. And then there she was, standing in front of Rex’s door for the third time in as many rotations. Only this time she wasn’t trembling with uncertainty or unbridled rage, wasn’t worried that the slightest movement would send her fragile heart careening to the ground.

This time, she knew exactly what she had to do. And she knew she had the strength to do it.

She reached out and pressed the comm button. The sound of shuffling behind the door met her montrals and she could hear what sounded like a very colorful string of curses as the durasteel slid away.

“I’ve already told you Fives, I’m no-“

Rex froze open-mouthed when he saw her.

“Ahsoka,” was all his shell-shocked tongue seemed to be able to manage.

“Hi Rex,” she fought to keep her own voice steady, even as her bones nearly rattled against themselves in anticipation. “Can I come in?”

He nodded wordlessly and stepped aside, allowing her to enter. Ahsoka crossed over to where his desk sat against the far wall and turned to lean against it, facing Rex as the door slid shut behind him.

“I’m sorry,” she said again. “For having to leave you standing in the hangar bay like that. I-“

“No need,” he interrupted, one hand brushing over his close-cropped blonde hair. She fought a grin; Rex must have been a terrible sabacc player given how obvious his nervous tells were. “I maybe shouldn’t have, uh, made such a scene. I’ll admit it wasn’t the most well-thought out of my plans.”

“You were channeling your inner Anakin, then,” she joked lightly. Rex huffed out the faintest breath of amusement through his nose and Ahsoka took it as her cue to continue. “Truthfully, I’m glad I was pulled away. I needed some time to process, to think over what you said.”

She watched as he cast his gaze downward, anxiety pouring off of him like water.

“I have a lot of things I’d like to say to you, Rex. But I don’t think any of them are going to do a damn bit of good.”

His eyes snapped back up to hers, wide and almost frightened. The sheer intensity reflected in his irises nearly stole the breath straight out of her lungs. Still, she persisted.

“I’ve taken issue with some of the things you’ve said to me and it’s led me to realize that there’s been a galaxy’s worth of miscommunication here. I thought I’d made myself perfectly clear the last time I was in this room, but it appears I haven’t.”

He swallowed hard and nodded wordlessly.

“Come here.”

To her mild surprise, he did as she asked without question. When he was close enough for her to reach out and touch him, she wrapped her fingers around his wrist and pulled him in further.

“I’ve done you a disservice, Captain,” she murmured softly. “By allowing you to walk around under my command thinking yourself unworthy of… of _me_. I’d like to explain to you, as I often do, all the ways in which you are completely and utterly wrong-“ there was a faint upward quirk in his mouth at that, “But I don’t think that would be enough to convince you. So with your permission, there’s something I’d like to show you.”

“Ahsoka, I-“

“ _Please_ , Rex.”

She watched as he inhaled a shuddering breath. The moment seemed to stretch endlessly, as if the suns on every planet in the galaxy rose and set a thousand times in the breaths that spanned between them. Finally, he nodded.

Ahsoka released his wrist and let one hand rest on either side of his face. She pulled him into her until their foreheads were touching and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath to steady herself and to chase the last few shadows of nervousness away, and then she shot a rocket blaster through the walls around her mind and watched them crack and crumble, leaving her free to lead Rex over the rubble and directly into her head.

She could feel her memories swirling around them, could feel them reaching out to grab at him with spindly fingers and tug him this way and that. But her mental grasp on him was firm and she kept them rooted in place, showing him exactly what he needed to see as though it was playing out on a holovid in front of them.

Ahsoka showed him Christophsis, that very first time they met at the lookout post so many years ago. She let him feel her instant respect for him, the burning desire she’d felt to prove herself worthy of being his Commander.

_“In my book, experience outranks everything…”_

She showed him the Resolute where she’d hidden in a storage closet, quietly sobbing into her arms after her first brush with _not enough_ , the first time she hadn’t been able to save someone. She showed him her head buried into his armor, his arms locked around her shoulders as she begged him not to tell anyone he’d found her like this. She let him feel the comfort she drew from him, how he was the only one she would have let see her so vulnerable and broken.

_“You can’t save everyone, Ahsoka. Believe me…”_

She showed him meals in the mess hall, bumping shoulders and thighs brushing when they’d started sitting just a hair too close. She let him feel her racing heart, let him hear her mental reminders that it was only a crush, that he’d never reciprocate, that she needed to snuff out the flame.

She showed him the exact moment she knew that was a lie, when he’d returned from Saleucami with an angry starburst scar in the center of his chest. She’d thrown her arms around him without caring who saw and it was only now that she let him feel her bone-deep relief, feel how afraid she’d been that he almost didn’t come back, feel her realization that the most important piece of herself would have died on that planet too.

_“Don’t ever do that to me again, Rexster…”_

She let him see flashes of quiet conversations while flying through hyperspace that suddenly felt leaden with so much more significance. She showed him meditations ruined with thoughts of him, showed him stinging reminders that Jedi weren’t meant to form attachments, that she wasn’t allowed to have the feelings she did, that she wasn’t allowed to let herself be so overcome - so completely, all-consumingly overcome - with love for him.

And she let him feel just how little she cared about what she was supposed to do, about what she was or wasn’t allowed.

Ahsoka’s stomach lurched as she pulled them both back to the present, to the white-walled room they were both standing in. She inhaled a shuddering breath when she pulled back a fraction and opened her eyes. Rex still had his firmly closed but she could see the tear tracks that marred his deep skin. She brushed them away with her thumbs.

“Look at me, Captain,” she whispered simply.

He did, his eyelids fluttering open so his gaze could lock onto her own. It felt as though he was looking straight through her, down into the depths of her very soul. In a way, she supposed he had.

“Please don’t ever tell me again that you don’t deserve me,” she continued, voice holding as steady as she could manage. “You’re the best man I’ve ever known, Rex. And I am so, _so_ lucky to get to be the one who loves you.”

Something akin to a sob escaped him and Ahsoka had to will herself not to collapse at the sound. She hoped he understood. She hoped it was enough.

With nothing left to be said, she did the only thing she could think to do: She reached up and closed the gap between them, pressing her lips to his.

* * *

**_Rex’s POV_ **

_I am so,_ so _lucky to get to be the one who loves you…_

The words whispered through his mind over and over, like a gentle breeze calmly assuring him that everything was okay now. That he was... _whole_...now. Those missing pieces of himself that she exposed when she’d so openly shown him her memories finally fell into place. She loved him. She loved him like he loved her.

And that was _everything_.

Feeling like the weight of the _Resolute_ had been lifted from his shoulders for the first time in his life, buoyant and weightless, he anchored himself with his shaking hands gently on her cheeks, his thumb catching her own tear and wiping it carefully away. 

He kissed her back.

Barely any pressure at first, just tasting her, savoring the sweet sensation of her plush lips against his own dry and chapped ones. Just that faint and subtle contact made him lightheaded and he sighed in pleasure. 

His tongue glided out to lick the salty residue of her sorrow from her lips and she parted them to let him inside, her answering sigh the most beautiful music in the galaxy. He kissed her softly, passionately, meaningfully. He kissed her with unwavering, burning _intention_ , hoping to convey with every pass of his tongue over her own that she was the most important thing in his life. That she had always been. 

One of his hands slid down featherlight from her cheek to trace the long line of her neck. Delicate and sensual, his long fingers tiptoed over her throat, taking their time, soaking in her shiver and drinking in her sigh. Those same worn and battle-hardened fingers tickled their way across her collarbone before dipping beneath her lek and around to the back of her neck, urging her closer.

She stepped in and his other hand skated down her lek, over her chest, down the line of her clenching stomach, then back across to rest on her hip. His fingers flexed and he tugged her hips flush against his own, relishing in her gasp at the feel of his codpiece against her, his armor as hard and ready as he was beneath it, pressing assertively against her stomach. His tongue slipped out of her mouth to follow the path his fingers had taken just moments ago down her neck. He stopped when he reached the fabric of her battledress and he lifted his head back up to meet her gaze. 

Her eyes were large and glazed over with lust, eyelids half closed and her breathing harsh and shallow. A mirror image of himself right now he was sure. “Ahsoka,” the hand behind her neck skated down to rest on the clasps of her dress, “May I?”

“Yes.”

His mouth descended on her own, capturing her lips in a heated kiss while he unhooked the clasps. As he teased the fabric down her neck, he released her mouth to kiss every new inch of skin exposed to his hungry gaze. Once the material had cleared her shoulders he nuzzled his way across her collarbone to the crook of her neck where he gently nipped the skin, his cock throbbing at her whimper of pleasure under his teeth. He groaned into her neck as he nuzzled his way back up, stopping to chastely kiss the mark he’d left there in his passion just a day ago. 

He could feel her shaking and he was too. His fingers hooked into the material now just below her shoulders. The stubble on his cheek lightly scratching her skin, he slid tantalizingly up her neck again to rest at the edge of her jaw close to her lek, his lips brushing it as he whispered, “Is it ok if I -”

 _“Yes_.”

Her breathless whisper made his cock twitch again and he moaned, his hot breath gusting across her lek as he tugged the fabric down to her hips. The mere knowledge that she might be bare from the waist up just above his hands right now nearly made him lose himself completely. His greedy fingers drifted hastily back up, desperate to find out, dying to _know_ if she was.

He almost cursed when he encountered a chest wrap. He willed his harsh breathing to even out, his hands running delicately over all of the new skin he could finally touch, mapping out every smooth millimeter of it in his memory. His wandering hands finally made their way back to her chest and followed the fabric around her back to the seal that held it in place. He was sure he was going to hyperventilate, “And-” he swallowed thickly, “And, may I?”

“Yes. _Force_ yes, Rex…” 

His heart was hammering in his chest, battering and chipping his ribs in a frantic attempt to free itself. His breath stuttered and died in his lungs as he released the seal and the wrap drifted down to softly pool at her feet. 

All he could do was stare for a long moment. She was so beautiful, so _perfect,_ his brain had to shut down all other functions to process the information that she was here with him _like this_ right now. That he could hold her, see her, touch her. That she was entrusting this much of herself to him.

He closed the distance between his mouth and her body, kissing her neck again, a little sloppy and desperate now, making his way purposefully downwards. His tongue found her nipple and flicked tentatively over it. Her whole body shook and she released a wanton sound that sent him into hyperdrive. His mouth fully closed over the tiny nub and he began to suck and lick it. He listened to her sounds, deciphering what she liked best from the noises that she made. He may have no clue what he was doing here, but he was nothing if not a fast learner. He lightly grazed the small nub with his teeth before giving it a nip and she shuddered. He smirked against her. 

_Ah, so you like that, huh?_

His mouth slid over to her other nipple and gave it similar treatment. Her hands were on his shoulders and he could feel her nails digging into his skin. He savored the feeling of it, the slight pain before the spark of pleasure in its aftermath shot down his spine to settle at the tip of his leaking erection. He groaned long and deep as he delighted in all of the sensations she was causing him. 

His hands on her hips, he pulled her impossibly closer as he teased her, rubbing his length temptingly along her stomach. His fingers squeezed in under the fabric bunched at her hips and hooked onto it. He abandoned her breast to rumble into her montral, “Ahsoka, _please_ …” his fingers were itching to yank it down, “ _Please_ may I?”

Her hand swept down to land over his own and help him lower it down. “Yes, _please_. _Yes…_ ” His groan at that sounded so low and wrecked already and he was positive he was going to come any second now, with or without her touching him.

She stepped back a little and a soft growl vibrated at the back of his throat, his hands flexing in protest on her hips at the thought of her placing _any_ distance between them right now. He willed himself to calm down, to pull back and hold himself in check. She paused for a moment, rubbed her thighs together and then resumed her step back with a look that told him she’d seen that fire smoldering behind his eyes an instant ago. 

She stepped out of her boots and leggings and removed her dress the rest of the way, now standing completely bare before his ravenous gaze. 

It was all he could do to stand still and speak. All he could do to hold back the dark urges threatening to overtake him, yelling at him hot and loud to _take her_. Those primal urges snarling at him, demanding that he take her hard and fast against his wall right now and sate his all-consuming need for her. He took several deep breaths, coming back to himself and this moment and the incredible woman before his eyes, awaiting his reaction. He hoped she hadn’t seen the effort it took him to hold back. 

“ _Gods_ Ahsoka, you are so beautiful.” His voice was rough and low but sincere and raw.

She smiled, maybe a little nervously at first, as though she’d been worried what his reaction might be to her nakedness. Her smile grew in confidence as she watched his eyes roam shamelessly over her form. He didn’t even try to hide his thoughts from her as his gaze caressed every curve of her. 

_Let her see. Let her see how beautiful she is through my eyes. Let her see how much I want her. How much I love her._

As if she could sense his thoughts, her smile widened. “And you, soldier, have far too many clothes on. Your turn: strip.”

He smiled and saluted her, “Sir, yes Sir!” He began to remove his armor with what he hoped was an unhurried and calm precision but what he was sure in reality was him tripping over himself to get undressed in what he knew was record time. The last piece of armor removed, he stood before her in his form fitting black body glove, erect and trembling a little in anticipation. 

He was fumbling with the seal when she closed the space between them. “Need a hand, Captain?”

He was sure he came at least a little in his blacks at that, and a shattered groan freed itself from his lips. “ _Fuck_ _yes,_ Commander.”

Her hands moved from her sides to land lightly on the outside of his thighs and his whole body shook at the contact, so close to his aching need. Her fingers softly traced the muscles of his thighs, ghosting upwards over his hips and his lower abs. One of her hands continued to whisper featherlight up his body, now brushing against his nipples as she reached his chest, while the other came around to his front and tickled along his cock starting at the tip and traveling all the way down to the base. He was sure she could feel him every hard inch of him pounding with the beat of his heart under the sultry caress of her fingers and he moaned again.

He wasn’t sure if he was breathing anymore. It was taking every ounce of willpower he had not to come undone as she touched him. His whole body was shaking with the effort to contain it. As one hand continued to run so light and teasingly along his length, the other had finally reached his seal and began to lower it. The last barrier between them. 

As she lowered it, he felt both anxious and excited about what was to come. Her hand stopped its tortuous ministrations so that he could step out of his blacks. He watched her eyes as they took him in, just as hot and hungry as his own had been when they’d drunk in the sight of her. 

“Haav. Jii.” 

“Sir, _yes_ sir!” He wasn’t sure if it was her tone or the fact that she’d ordered it in Mando’a, but it made him shudder and he hurried to comply. He clambered onto the bed ungracefully, aware as he’d never been before of every muscle in his body, yet at the same time stumbling slightly, unable to recall the simple mechanism of how to bend his knees to walk. 

She approached him, taking her time and letting him soak in the sight of her. He couldn’t take much more of this. “K’olar! _Getet’ye…_ ”

“ _Me’copaani, alor’ad?_ Tell me.”

He moaned openly at that. He was sure it was a rhetorical question. It _had_ to be. He willed himself to breathe. His eyes met hers and he gave her an answer that surprised even himself. But all the same it was honest and he meant every word. “Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar’tome, mhi me’dinui an. Ni kar’tayl gar darasuum, Ahsoka.”

* * *

_**Ahsoka's POV** _

Ahsoka’s heart was going to tear straight through her chest; she was sure of it. Rex’s words seeped through her skin and mingled inside her veins, coursing through her limbs until she could feel them in every bit of space inside of her body. They left her feeling warm and lightheaded, yet somehow firmly grounded in the moment - this moment, the one in which _her_ Captain had expressed how much he loved her in the most meaningful way he knew how.

Ahsoka felt her lips curve into a smile as she closed the space between them and climbed up onto the bed. She was well aware of how his eyes stayed glued to her as she swung one leg over his hips and settled back against his thighs. She reached down and grabbed his hands, placing a gentle kiss against each of his open palms and letting her lips linger as she whispered against his skin.

_“Mhi solus tome…”_

Rex sucked in a sharp breath. Ahsoka kept his hands held tightly in hers as she leaned forward, pinned them above his head and placed an open-mouthed kiss against the side of his neck.

_“Mhi solus dar’tome…”_

She could feel the shudder that ran down his spine. One of her hands held his wrists loosely while the other trailed down the side of this face, across the peaks and valleys of his chest and abs, down past his hips to wrap around him. Rex moaned audibly as she worked him in her hand - a beautiful, desperate sound she could feel against her lips when she pressed them to his throat.

_“Mhi me’dinui an…”_

Ahsoka shifted her hips forward, raising herself up just enough to be able to position him against her. The feel of his tip just barely inside of her, flushed and throbbing and aching just as badly as she was, nearly sent her toppling over the edge. She reached up and kissed Rex long and slow, one hand releasing his wrists to come to his shoulder and steady herself. She pulled back just enough to let her forehead rest against his, her lips still ghosting over his own as she lowered herself down onto him.

 _“Ni kar’tayl gar dara-_ oh!”

The breath caught inside her lungs as she settled flush against his hips. Her body trembled at the intrusion in the best possible way, all of her nerve endings seeming to fire off at once at the feel of being so inexplicably _full._ Rex’s hands brushed down her sides before landing on her hips, his fingers flexing around her as he held her steady against him.

“Say it,” he pleaded with a fractured voice, strained to the point that it sounded almost like a sob. “ _Please,_ Ahsoka. Say it.”

She swallowed hard in an attempt to unstick her tongue from where it lay heavy inside of her mouth. The words abandoned her. Instead she rocked her hips experimentally, testing the feel of him shifting inside of her and brushing against the deepest parts of her core. She sighed her pleasure against his mouth and he breathed out a swear, fingertips pressing ever harder into her tender skin. Rex hissed through his teeth when she dared to raise up and he slid out of her bit by bit until she dropped herself back down, a wanton moan tumbling from her parted lips when he hit that sensitive spot inside of her. Rex groaned loudly and it was all the encouragement Ahsoka needed.

 _“Ni kar’tayl gar darasuum,_ Rex,” she confessed against his mouth, punctuating her words with another slow roll of her hips. “Only you.”

The sound that left him was choked and raw. He slid his hands up her back and pulled her flush against him, as close as they could possibly be. Between her thighs, he thrust his hips upward desperately.

“Ahsoka,” he pleaded against her montral. “I want…”

 _“Ganar ni,”_ she answered breathlessly. “I’m yours.”

A growl rose in his throat, low and deep and feral, as though her words had picked the lock on the cage that held that wild beast inside of him - the one she’d only caught glimpses of before now. She wanted to hear it again and again, rumbling in her montrals while he was buried between her legs.

“Say it again,” Rex ground out through gritted teeth. “ _Please._ ”

His words were starship fuel poured directly over the flames that raged deep in her belly. Ahsoka was certain she would have given him anything he wanted in that moment.

And what he wanted was her.

“ _Ganar ni,_ Captain.”

One of his hands slid down to her lower back, holding her hips against him and keeping him deep inside of her. “ _Again_.”

A desperate moan rose in her throat. “I’m yours. Only yours.”

Something inside of him seemed to stretch and break, unable to bear the strain any longer. Ahsoka gasped as he held her to him and rolled them over, leaving her flat on her back beneath him. His durasteel bed frame knocked loudly against the wall but there was nothing in the galaxy that could have persuaded her to care. All that existed for her were Rex and the throbbing need inside of her that only he could sate.

One of his hands cupped her hip, holding her steady as the other moved to the back of her thigh. He slung her leg over his hips as he dove back into her and she heard his name tumble from her lips like a prayer. Her hands grasped at his back, holding him close to her as though letting go meant she might float away.

“Again, _cyar’ika_.” Ahsoka couldn’t tell if it was a plea or a demand and she wasn’t sure which made her head spin more. “My name. _Again._ ”

She obliged him happily, relishing the effect it had on him. He moved intentionally inside of her, dragging them both to the edge of a rapidly approaching cliff. Ahsoka felt like there was a coil deep in her core being wound ever tighter and it was dangerously close to snapping entirely. She whimpered his name, convinced it was the only thing she could even will her body to do any more.

Rex’s breath was hot against her neck as he dipped his head and nuzzled her lek out of the way. “ _Louder_.”

His name left her in a shriek as he sunk his teeth into the smooth curve of her shoulder. She was gone now, so close to breaking that she could do nothing but dig her nails into the skin of Rex’s back. He groaned at the contact and she felt his muscles tense beneath her palms. His hips snapped forward with such intensity that Ahsoka would’ve worried she’d be split in two if she didn’t know better. Her entire body ached at the feel of him as she tried desperately to match his rhythm.

“Rex,” she whimpered into his skin. “I…”

The words died on her tongue, devolving into a mess of needy, wanton noises.

“Tell me,” Rex groaned against her neck. “Please.”

She swallowed hard and forced herself to string the words together. “Touch me.”

Rex didn’t need to be told twice. He maneuvered his hand between their bodies and found the place above where they were joined, one finger reaching out to brush over the sensitive bundle of nerves. She gasped, high-pitched and desperate at the contact and could have sworn she noticed him smirk.

“Is this what you wanted, _mesh’la_?”

A second time and she felt her whole body shudder in anticipation.

She wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him flush against her, holding him as close to her as she possibly could. Ahsoka could feel him hitting exactly where she needed him inside of her at the same time his finger started tracing circles and it was all suddenly too much. Rex was a hammer against the fragile foundation of her resolve and she crumbled beneath him, crying out his name.

“That’s it, _cyar’ika,_ ” he growled against her. “Come for your Captain.”

Wave after wave of pleasure rolled over her with such intensity that Ahsoka was certain she would meet her end in the waters. Her nails raked down Rex’s back, leaving a series of long, angry red lines in their wake. Her legs held him firmly against her as her core throbbed and pulsed around him and she could feel the moment he shattered, her name tumbling from his lips. His free hand slammed against the wall behind her head in an effort to support his weight as he emptied himself deep inside of her. Her sharp teeth sank into the skin of his shoulder and she was vaguely aware that she could taste blood in her mouth, though Rex seemed to neither notice nor care.

Ahsoka was certain she could have stayed with him forever like that, riding out their pleasure together, as close as they could possibly be. When it finally started to subside and her mind began to clear, there was a visceral ache inside her chest at the thought of separating from him. She had to remind herself that it was okay, that they had time. More importantly, that they had each other. He was hers, and she was his, and anything else was nothing but noise.

When Rex finally rolled to lay beside her, she knew it was with great reluctance. His arm slid across her hips and pulled her back against him, letting him nuzzle beneath her lek. Ahsoka sighed in contentment and traced her fingers over his own, fully intending to memorize every line and scar and callous that made him inexorably _hers._

She found it hard to believe that all of it had started from a stupid game and a bunch of bored, inebriated troopers. And yet somehow, it seemed oddly perfect. Who was to say how long it would have taken them to get to this point if Fives hadn’t dared her to kiss Rex in the common room only a few nights ago? Would they have kept on as they were, both wildly in love but too afraid to say so? Ahsoka supposed it didn’t really matter. Because there she was, wrapped in Rex’s arms, happier than she could ever remember being. The how didn’t matter, though she knew she wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the galaxy.

Rex murmured his love against her neck and Ahsoka felt a smile creep across her face, every single piece of her knowing that his words were nothing but the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We did it! We truly cannot thank all of you enough for sticking with us throughout this story. Your comments, kudos and subscribes were such a motivation to us and we are both so, so happy to know that so many of you have loved reading this work as much as we loved writing it. We can't wait to hear what you think of the final chapter!
> 
> If you haven't yet, be sure to check out previous chapters for some gorgeous art by Ahmose007! You can find them individually posted on her profile as well. And if the ending of chapter 3 was a favorite for you, be sure to check out sushifish's profile shortly. There may be a "what-if" extended scene coming your way ;)
> 
> We seriously love you guys all so much! We are already planning out our next collaborative work but please let us know if there is anything you'd like us to try and tackle! <3


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